Kelly Cherry is the author of twenty-seven books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction; eleven chapbooks; and two translations of classical drama. Her recent titles include Beholder’s Eye: Poems (Groundhog Poetry Press, 2017), Quartet for J. Robert Oppenheimer: A Poem (Louisiana State Press, 2017), Temporium: Before the Beginning to After the End: Fictions (Press 53, 2017), and Weather, a poetry chapbook (Rain Mountain Press, 2017). In 2016, Cherry received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and in 2017 she became the first female recipient of the William “Singing Billy” Walker Award for Lifetime Achievement in Southern Letters.  

Photo by Burke Davis III