Letters to a Young Writer

In a reversal to our usual Letters to a Young Writer format, in which a featured Narrative author responds to comments and questions from a young writer, here Ann Beattie poses a question about a writer’s responsibility, and two young writers, Jackie Thomas-Kennedy and Reese Kwon, respond.

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Ann Beattie’s advent in the 1970s as a preeminent writer helped create the short story renaissance of the 1980s. Her exploration of the subtle cruelties and desires of the heart has continually advanced the story form, and in 2000 she received the PEN/Malamud Award for Lifetime Achievement for her seven story collections. She has also published seven remarkable novels, including Chilly Scenes of Winter and Picturing Will. Beattie and her husband, the painter Lincoln Perry, live in Florida and in Charlottesville, where she teaches at the University of Virginia.

Jackie Thomas-Kennedy holds a BA in English from Vassar College and an MFA in fiction writing from Columbia University School of the Arts. Her story “Jack-in-the-Pulpit” was a finalist in the Narrative30Below contest in 2008, and her story “You Cannot Lie about a Mountain” won First Place in Narrative’s 2008 Fall Fiction Contest. She has won numerous other awards for her stories and writes book reviews and occasional pieces for national periodicals. Thomas-Kennedy lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Reese Kwon is a recent graduate of the MFA program at Brooklyn College, where she won the Himan Brown Award. She was featured this year as one of Narrative’s Best New Writers for her story “Superhero.” The recipient of a fellowship from the Elizabeth George Foundation, as well as a residency from Hedgebrook, Kwon is currently working on a novel and is an assistant editor at Narrative.

Spring 2009
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