Fiction Writer, Poet and TranslatorKirk Nesset

Kirk Nesset is author of two books of short stories, Mr. Agreeable and Paradise Road, as well as a book of translations, Alphabet of the World: Selected Works by Eugenio Montejo; he is also author of a nonfiction study, The Stories of Raymond Carver, and a book of poems, Saint X. He was awarded the Drue Heinz literature prize in 2007 and has received a Pushcart Prize and grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. His stories, poems, translations and essays have appeared in hundreds of journals, including The Paris Review, The Kenyon Review, The Southern Review, American Poetry Review, Gettysburg Review, Iowa Review, New England Review, Ploughshares, Agni, The Sun and Prairie Schooner, among others. His short short fictions have been widely anthologized, appearing in W. W. Norton’s Flash Fiction Forward, New Sudden Fiction, Sudden Fiction Latino, and elsewhere. Read More…

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Essays on Craft at NANO Fiction

Three Essays by Nesset at NANO Fiction KIRK NESSET Three essays by Kirk Nesset have appeared in "The State of Flash" series at NANO Fiction, which includes work by Sean Lovelace, Matt Sallor, Kathy Fish and others. Nesset's essays investigate micro tales by Pamela Painter, Marco Denevi and Natalia Rachel Singer, among others. Check out each at the following links: A Sudden Flash, or Into and Out of the Pan What Works Works What Isn't Said

Nesset Wins Perry 200 Poetry Prize

Celebrating the 200th anniversary of Oliver Hazard Perry’s victory over the British in the War of 1812, the Erie County Poet Laureate Initiative, The Summer Festival of the Arts, and the Perry 200 committee have chosen Kirk Nesset's poem "Orinoco, Upriver" to honor Commodore Perry’s contribution to American military history as well as the history of American letters at Erie's Summer Festival of the Arts. For more information, see the official announcement.

A Conversation between Kirk Nesset and Nicelle Davis

A Conversation Between Kirk Nesset and Nicelle Davis [PANK / February 13th, 2010 / All Things Pankish / Interviews ] ND: The stories in Mr. Agreeable are considerably shorter than the stories in your first collection, Paradise Road. The two books demonstrate your control of narrative. You can hold a reader’s attention for thirty pages and/or rip their hearts out in two. How did you decide on the short-short form for Mr. Agreeable? What advantages are there in writing for brevity? KN: You ...

10 Questions: Saint X

TEN QUESTIONS FOR KIRK NESSET'S SAINT X (These ten questions were posed as part of Lois Marie Harrod's blog interview series. See below for the other interview links.) What is the title of your book? Saint X. Where did the idea come from for the book? I'm not sure that the book began with an idea, and don't recall where or when the title arose, or the ideas associated with the title. The book was accepted eight years ago, and just appeared in December. ...

Edmundo Paz Soldán

Three Stories by EDMUNDO PAZ SOLDÁN translated by KIRK NESSET originally posted in the Adirondack Review I. CAROLINA, HIM AND US Although we didn’t altogether agree, we told him yes, when he asked—Carolina was pretty, maybe the prettiest woman in town. We couldn’t tell him the truth; he was in love, and none of us wanted to be the one to dispel the illusion. A year later he married, and children appeared, along with rumors. When asked again, we replied as before. No way, ...

Interview with Kirk Nesset, Our Flash Fiction Contest Judge

Interview with Kirk Nesset, Our Flash Fiction Contest Judge See original article January 31, 2011 Potomac Review's Morgan Moyer virtually sits down with Kirk Nesset. M: Do you start out, usually, intending to write a flash fiction piece? When and how do you know that what you’re working on will be flash? KN: Lately, actually, it seems like I’m always starting out thinking I’m writing flash fiction. It’s less ponderous, less daunting, in terms of build-up, or planning. How awful can writing two or ...

Nesset Captures National Award

“Nesset Captures National Award,” Interview in the Meadville Tribune (November, 2006) November 10, 2006 Nesset captures national award By Mary Spicer 11/11/06 — Kirk Nesset was in his office at Allegheny College Thursday morning, just about to teach his 11 o’clock class, when the telephone rang. When he said “hello,” life as Nesset knows it changed forever. Ed Ochester of University of Pittsburgh was on the line — calling to notify the associate professor of English and creative writing that he has been named 2007 ...

Ray, we hardly knew ye...

Ray, we hardly knew ye ... by Jill_Dearman 03:37 PM Categories: writer to writer Kirk Nesset is an eclectic author and teacher who has deeply studied the works of Raymond Carver, and brings a fresh, empathic perspective to the life and work of the great short story artist. Below, my talk with Kirk about his own books as well as the life and prose of Carver. Jill Dearman: There's been a lot of ink lately (again!) about the love-hate relationship between Raymond Carver and ...

Pampered Pet Tours with Professor

Pampered pet tours with professor The Campus -- Chelsea Fleishman (see original article ) Their friendship knows no bounds. From work, to the gym and even at the bar, their complementary sets of luscious locks and pearly whites are iconic. English Professor Kirk Nesset and his black Pomeranian, Ryan, are celebrities at Allegheny College. “[They] stroll the Oddfellows hallway like a pair of gangsters,” said Kiley Fisher, ’13. At last Thursday’s Single Voice Reading, Ryan listened attentively in the first row as Nesset read his flash fiction ...

“What’s most impressive about Nesset’s fiction is his ability to explore how we don’t know ourselves, or our intentions, not before we’ve done something, however heroic or awful, not even afterwards, and how it wouldn’t make a difference even if we did.”

Barn Owl Review

“The figures and voices that appear in Paradise Road are like ghosts from an ancient land that move toward their destinies with hope and defiance. Mr. Nesset conducts their journeys with a sure hand while making fiction of striking originality and beauty. Paradise Road may go through geography unfamiliar to some of us, but the route, once taken, is unforgettable.”

Hilary Masters

“Nesset displays his mastery of the short story form in twelve rich and well-developed stories. On the surface his stories appear to be simple tales about ordinary people, but the worlds he opens to us have several levels.”

Rain Taxi

“Nesset sees the world — our infinately screwed-up world — from such a beautifully peculiar angle. He allows us to see so much that we miss.”

Peter Orner

“Really good writers seem to have their own terrain, their own timing, their own off-key lullabies, and Kirk Nesset is certainly a good short story writer.”

Anne Beattie

“Nesset can bewitch you with one word. But he can also make 100 sing like a chorus.”

Bill O'Driscoll, Pittsburgh City Paper

“There is a navigational alchemy in this work, a mastery of subject and craft.”

Kate Braverman

“Nesset is attuned to the fine-edged songs of the mundane, alert to the explosions ready to burst even in the dull routes where our lives lead.”

Barry Hannah

“[T]hese poems are here to help. These poems are just in time.”

Alan Michael Parker

“Nesset’s poems merge the sacred and profane in a seamless vision.”

Denise Duhamel

“I must have read this book twelve times. Not only are the poems beautifully written, they are also instructional.”

Nicelle Davis, The Bees Knees Blog

Here’s a book like gunfire down the block — spooky and unexpected and unforgettable — a book that grabs you by the scruff and shakes you silly with its wisdom and its odd and dangerous beauty. ”

Lee K. Abbott

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