The new issue of The Kenyon Review is here! Follow the link to read: Jessie Cato’s remarkable piece on the nonlinearity of grief, “Through the Mirror,” the winning entry of the 2025 Kenyon Review Nonfiction Contest judged by Lucy Ives. This cover features Launch Pads (2021) by Ivan David Ng.

"These days my patience is skeletal and my rage lurid. You know Freud was wrong about the Gorgon." A deft & evocative piece, "Un caso clínico" by Daisy Elizeth Magallanes is from our latest: kenyonreview.org/piece/un-cas...

"Xinyue Huang’s poems demonstrate the talents of a writer whose subjects, diction, and formal range cohere into an evolved, dynamic body of work." —Diane Seuss, 2025 KR Poetry Contest Judge. Read Huang's winning poems in our latest: kenyonreview.org/piece/my-cow...

"This is writer who would not devastate us so if she did not have remarkable formal chops." —Cate Marvin, 2025 Patricia Grodd Judge. Read this year's winning poem in our latest issue here: kenyonreview.org/piece/tiger-...

"I love the narrative lurch [...] as it swings back and forth between its lines, leaning into the ways of the woman whose lessons are neglect. It’s smart and sad and so freaking wise. This is a writer who is endowed with an enviable capacity for intuition." —Cate Marvin, 2025 Patricia Grodd Judge

Cate Marvin, 2025 Patricia Grodd Judge, on “Prayers to the Buddha in My Costco Jar of Vaseline” by Ryan Li: It’s the moment of refusal that so delights me: the speaker’s defiance, their renouncing of God, that allows me as reader to walk right up a red velvet corridor into their heart.

Today is the day!

Whether your application to KR's Summer Online Workshops has been stuck in draft mode or you're starting one today, complete and send it in by the deadline tomorrow Friday, April 17th, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. EST. kenyonreview.org/event/summer...

We're excited to welcome Richie Hofmann and Jon Pineda on campus tomorrow for a special reading! If you're in the area, we hope to see you there. Richie's latest collection of poems The Bronze Arms came out earlier this year: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/797430...

We're very excited to have the inimitable ZZ Packer here at Kenyon College TODAY for a reading happening shortly. ZZ recently had a story appear in our Fall 2025 issue—“What's Done Is Done,” and you can read it here: kenyonreview.org/piece/whats-...

Tomorrow is the LAST DAY to apply for our Summer Online Workshop. In this workshop, you'll work with three different faculty in one genre for an entire week in June. Today, we're shouting out three of our amazing Poetry Faculty: Lisa Low, Brad Richard, & Emily Jungmin Yoon!

With the rigor and excitement of a residential experience, our Summer Online Workshop is a week-long synchronous, generative workshop. Young Writers find community and explore new possibilities in their work. Apply by April 13: kenyonreview.org/event/young-...

Applications for our Summer Online Writers Workshop close this coming Friday! These workshops present a unique opportunity to work with three different faculty members in one genre. The workshop will meet every day from June 21–27, 2026. kenyonreview.org/event/summer...

We're excited to give a sneak peek to our forthcoming print issue! Read “Trail Coltsfoot” on our website now from Joan Naviyuk Kane’s with snow pouring southward past the window published March 3, 2026 by University of Pittsburgh Press. kenyonreview.org/piece/trail-...

Huge shoutout & welcome to Matt Weinkam & Michelle Smith from @literarycleveland.bsky.social who will join us today on Kenyon's campus to speak with the KR Associates. This is a great opportunity for the Associates to learn from two wonderful people doing great things for the lit community in CLE!

If you're carving out time to devote to writing this summer—check out our online workshops. Fiction writers will work with 3 different faculty including the AMAZING Rebecca Makkai in a generative workshop for a week in June. Apply by April 10: kenyonreview.org/event/summer...

Apply to our Summer Online Workshops by April 10! For an entire week, you will work with three different faculty in one genre. These generative workshops are rigorous and community-focused like our residential workshops. kenyonreview.org/event/summer...

Taking things back to Benjamin Garcia's "Warrior Song" from a special KR online feature back in the day. Benjamin Garcia is one of the amazing Poetry Faculty for our Summer Online Workshop: a week-long synchronous experience in June. Apply here: kenyonreview.org/event/summer...

"He told Elizabeth Bishop—who read a draft—that he had no idea the turtles were dying, but the poem he wrote has notes of self-reproach. Its subject—the harm caused to a vulnerable, wordless being—is both ethically and aesthetically challenging to handle." kenyonreview.org/piece/nothin...

With the rigor and excitement of a residential experience, our Summer Online Workshop is a week-long synchronous, generative workshop. Young Writers find community and explore new possibilities in their work. Apply by April 13: kenyonreview.org/event/young-...

From the Visitation folio in our most recent issue, "Visitation" by Jill Bialosky unspools both absence and presence. Concise and winding line breaks create a path you cannot resist following. Read the poem in its entirety here: kenyonreview.org/piece/visita...

What makes our Summer Online Workshops so special? Pick a genre and work with three different faculty in one generative workshop for one week in June! It's designed with the same rigor of a residential workshop but with more flexibility. Apply here: kenyonreview.org/event/summer...

If you're looking for an awesome workshop experience this summer, but can't make it to Gambier, OH—look no further. Our summer online workshops present a unique opportunity to work with three different faculty members across the same genre. Apply here: kenyonreview.org/event/summer...

We have a special feature today—read “The Disparate Heart” a companion piece to author Jacque Gorelick’s MAP OF A HEART: A MEMOIR OF LOVE, LOSS, AND FINDING THE WAY HOME (Vine Leaves Press, 2026), published on February 17, 2026. kenyonreview.org/piece/the-di...

“The idea is of the spectacle: Invent photography to sterilize our battles — to preserve artifice in silver gelatin and fixities of light.” —Sasha Burshteyn kenyonreview.org/piece/light-...

Today, we're welcoming back students from spring break with a showstopper reading! Join us and 2025 Kenyon Review Award for Literary Achievement Honoree Viet Thanh Nguyen on Kenyon College's campus this evening for what is sure to be a memorable gathering. kenyonreview.org/events/

Tomorrow, we are excited to host 2025 Kenyon Review Award for Literary Achievement Honoree Viet Thanh Nguyen on Kenyon College's campus! If you are in the area, you definitely don't want to miss this reading. kenyonreview.org/events

Are you looking for some time to devote to your writing this summer but can't make it to one of our Residential Workshops? We are accepting applications for our Summer Online Workshops for either Adult or Young Writers into April! Learn more at the link: kenyonreview.org/event/summer...

We are thrilled to host the 2025 Kenyon Review Award for Literary Achievement Honoree Viet Thanh Nguyen on Kenyon College's campus this coming Monday! This reading is on campus, and if you are here, you are in for a memorable evening. kenyonreview.org/events/

Today's Feature: "I Must Listen to the Birds" by @deesoulpoetry.com from @kenyonreview.bsky.social, Spring 2025 Read here: poems.com/poem/i-must-...

Young Writers—the deadline is almost here for our Residential Workshops this summer. At these generative workshops led by distinguished instructors, you will challenge yourself and develop your voice in a supportive and passionate community of peers. Apply here: kenyonreview.org/event/young-...

“What is a muse to a painter’s wife?” A fully enthralling piece from our latest issue—“This Is Your Life” by Lily Felsenthal is an ekphrastic story responding to Andrew Wyeth’s portraits of Helga Testorf. Read it here: kenyonreview.org/piece/this-i...

"God I just want to talk" by Arro Mandell delivers beauty, terror—and that ending! We will be revisiting this one again and again. Read and listen to it in our latest issue: kenyonreview.org/piece/god-i-...

Applications for our Residential Young Writers Workshops this summer close March 1! Every year, we're amazed by the excitement and inventiveness of young writers who join us to take the next stride in their writing journey. kenyonreview.org/event/young-...

Here's an utterly gorgeous poem by Sally Wen Mao from our Spring 2020 issue! ❤️❤️ kenyonreview.org/piece/march-...

Fragmentary and bold, "Don’t Look Away" by janan alexandra accumulates an unflinching image with deft, cutting lines. Find it in our latest issue at the link: kenyonreview.org/piece/dont-l...

Our latest issue has several new poems by Su Cho. If you need a moment of quiet and wonder today, here's our recommendation: spend some time with these poems. All of these poems are available to listen to on our website, too. kenyonreview.org/piece/chrest...

We have NEW poems by Sara Henning! In "Map of the Moon (2006)" cosmology and the body coalesce in surprising and startling ways. Read it in our latest issue at the link: kenyonreview.org/piece/map-of...

Share this with your high school students or friends ready to take the next big step in their writing journey! Applications for our Residential Young Writers Workshops are open until March 1. Learn more and apply at the link: kenyonreview.org/event/young-...

Our Writers Workshops welcome writers at every stage of their writing journey. Join us this summer in Gambier, OH to focus on generating new work. We have an incredible lineup of faculty in Poetry, Fiction, and Nonfiction, but the deadline to apply is almost here! kenyonreview.org/event/summer...

While this year's fiction contest submission window has closed, we have some major news for last year's contest. We are ECSTATIC to announce Diana Cao (she/her) as the winner of the 2025 Kenyon Review Fiction Contest for her story “Animals.” Cao’s story will appear in our Spring 2026 print issue.

Nostalgia and surreality blur into one another in "Proverbial" by Lynne Jensen Lampe. Listen to and read it in our latest issue at the link: kenyonreview.org/piece/prover...

Poets—this summer at Kenyon, challenge yourself to generate new work in writing workshops led by Leila Chatti, Oliver de la Paz, Richie Hofmann, or Natalie Shapero! Applications close in a week, so apply today at the link: kenyonreview.org/event/summer...

Submissions for our Fiction Contest close at the end of the month! This year's judge Jamil Jan Kochai will select one winner who will receive publication, contributor payment, and a full scholarship to the Kenyon Review Writers Workshops. kenyonreview.org/submit/short...

January is almost in the rearview, and applications for our Writers Workshops close February 9. We're excited for fiction writers who will have an opportunity to work with either Jamil Jan Kochai, Idra Novey, Matthew Neill Null, or Maurice Carlos Ruffin. kenyonreview.org/event/summer...

"What's Done is Done" by ZZ Packer today is an incredible story told with precise and and tempered prose. Read it in our latest issue at the link: kenyonreview.org/piece/whats-...

Submissions for our Fiction Contest close at the end of the month! This year's judge Jamil Jan Kochai will select one winner who will receive publication, contributor payment, and a full scholarship to the Kenyon Review Writers Workshops. kenyonreview.org/submit/short...

"Like acts of preservation, acts of erasure are not accidental." We love this essay by Leah Mensch, who tends to punctures in family history and the archive as both political and community labor with wisdom and care. Read "Histories of the Undead" at the link." kenyonreview.org/piece/histor...

Spend a week with us in Gambier this summer to challenge yourself and generate new work. Shout out to the brilliant luminaries in our Session 1 Poetry Faculty: Anthony Cody, Major Jackson, Yalie Saweda Kamara, and Felicia Zamora. Find all the details at the link: kenyonreview.org/event/summer...

Cue the "you are watching a master at work" sample. With impeccable prose, "What's Done is Done" by ZZ Packer has us transfixed, and we will return it again & again. Read it today in our latest issue: kenyonreview.org/piece/whats-...