Kimberly King Parsons

Kimberly King Parsons
Kimberly King Parsons at Elliott Bay Book Company in 2024
Born
Texas, U.S.
EducationColumbia University
OccupationsNovelist, short story author
Websitewww.kimberlykingparsons.com

Kimberly King Parsons is an American author and educator. She is the author of the short story collection Black Light (2019), which was longlisted for the National Book Award[1] and the Story Prize,[2] and the novel We Were the Universe (2024), which won the Ken Kesey Award for Fiction at the Oregon Book Awards[3] and was ranked number two on TIME Magazine's Best Books of 2024.[4]

Early life and education

Parsons was born in Lubbock, Texas.[5] She received her MFA from Columbia University, where she served as editor-in-chief of Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art.[5]

Career

Black Light

Parsons's debut collection, Black Light, was published by Vintage Books in August 2019.[6] In 2019, Black Light was longlisted for the National Book Award[5] and the Story Prize.[7] In NPR, Michael Schaub called it "a wild and compassionate debut collection," praising Parsons for writing "with the unpredictable power of a firecracker" and for proving herself "a gutsy country-punk poet with a keen eye and a stubbornly unique sensibility."[8] In the Los Angeles Times, Nathan Deuel wrote that the collection was "a book for the lonely, for the losers poised for more—it's a celebration of and a deeply felt meditation on the injustice, cruelty and a million private horrors endured by the weak and the unloved."[9]

We Were the Universe

Parsons's debut novel, We Were the Universe, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2024.[10] The novel was selected as a Dakota Johnson Book Club pick and ranked number two on TIME Magazine's Best Books of 2024.[11] In the New York Times Book Review, Alissa Nutting praised the novel's emotional depth and narrative structure, describing it as entertaining and singular in its approach.[12] Nutting noted that "Parsons has gifted us with a profound, gutsy tale of grief's dismantling power."[13]

In 2025, We Were the Universe won the Ken Kesey Award for Fiction at the Oregon Book Awards.[14] The novel was also a finalist for the 37th Annual Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Fiction.[15]

Awards

Year Work Award Category Result Ref
2019 Black Light National Book Award for Fiction Fiction Longlisted [16]
Story Prize Short Story Collection Longlisted [17]
2020 Edmund White Award Debut Fiction Shortlisted [18]
Oregon Book Awards Fiction Shortlisted [19]
Texas Institute of Letters Awards Best First Fiction Shortlisted [20]
2020 "Foxes" National Magazine Award Fiction Won [21]
2024–2025 We Were the Universe Ken Kesey Oregon Book Award Fiction Won [22]
Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award Fiction Shortlisted [23]
Lambda Literary Award Bisexual Fiction Shortlisted [24]
Premio Letterario The Bridge American Fiction Shortlisted [25]
Writers League of Texas Book Award Fiction Shortlisted [26]
Joyce Carol Oates Prize Fiction Longlisted [27]

Other work and awards

In 2020, Parsons received the National Magazine Award for Fiction for her story "Foxes," which was published in The Paris Review.[28] Her fiction has been published in The Paris Review, Best Small Fictions 2017, Black Warrior Review, No Tokens, Ninth Letter, and The Kenyon Review.[5]

Teaching

Parsons teaches fiction in the MFA Writing Program at Pacific University in Oregon.[29]

Personal life

Parsons lives in Portland, Oregon.[30]

Bibliography

Collections

  • Black Light (2019)[31]

Novels

  • We Were the Universe (2024)[32]

References

  1. ^ "Black Light: Stories". National Book Foundation. Retrieved November 10, 2025.
  2. ^ "Black Light by Kimberly King Parsons". Penguin Random House. Retrieved November 10, 2025.
  3. ^ "Kimberly King Parsons wins 2025 Oregon Book Award for fiction for her 'filthy and weird' novel, 'We Were the Universe'". Oregon ArtsWatch. April 29, 2025. Retrieved November 10, 2025.
  4. ^ "'We Were the Universe' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2024". TIME. November 13, 2024. Retrieved November 10, 2025.
  5. ^ a b c d "Kimberly King Parsons". National Book Foundation. October 3, 2019. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  6. ^ "Black Light by Kimberly King Parsons". Penguin Random House. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  7. ^ "The Story Prize Longlist for Short Story Collections Published in 2019". The Story Prize. 27 January 2020. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  8. ^ Schaub, Michael (August 17, 2019). "Darkness And Beauty Go Hand In Hand In 'Black Light'". NPR. Retrieved November 10, 2025.
  9. ^ Deuel, Nathan (August 14, 2019). "In 'Black Light: Stories,' Kimberly King Parsons serves up a big and wild Texas". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 10, 2025.
  10. ^ "Portland Author Kimberly King Parsons on Her Debut Novel 'We Were the Universe'". Portland Monthly. May 9, 2024. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  11. ^ "Kimberly King Parsons, author of We Were the Universe". KBOO. June 11, 2024. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  12. ^ Alissa Nutting (May 12, 2024). "Her Sister is Dead, but Life, and Libido, Carry On". The New York Times. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  13. ^ Alissa Nutting (May 12, 2024). "Her Sister is Dead, but Life, and Libido, Carry On". The New York Times. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  14. ^ "Portland author Kimberly King Parsons' debut novel and other works win Oregon Book Awards". OPB. April 29, 2025. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  15. ^ "Announcing the Finalists for the 37th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. July 31, 2025. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  16. ^ "2019 National Book Awards Longlist for Fiction". National Book Foundation. September 20, 2019. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  17. ^ "Kimberly King Parsons". National Book Foundation. October 3, 2019. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  18. ^ "Recommended Reading: Black Light, by Kimberly King Parsons". Publishing Triangle. April 23, 2020. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  19. ^ "Kimberly King Parsons '10 Releases New Novel 'We Were the Universe'". Columbia University School of the Arts. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  20. ^ "Kimberly King Parsons '10 Releases New Novel 'We Were the Universe'". Columbia University School of the Arts. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  21. ^ "'The Paris Review' Wins the 2020 National Magazine Award for Fiction". The Paris Review. February 11, 2020. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  22. ^ "Kimberly King Parsons wins 2025 Oregon Book Award for fiction". Oregon ArtsWatch. April 29, 2025. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  23. ^ "2025 Pacific Northwest Book Awards Announced". Edmonds Bookshop. January 8, 2025. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  24. ^ "Announcing the Finalists for the 37th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. July 31, 2025. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  25. ^ "9th edition 2024". Premio Letterario The Bridge. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  26. ^ "2024 Book Award Winners and Finalists". Writers League of Texas. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  27. ^ "Joyce Carol Oates Prize Longlist Announced". New Literary Project. December 4, 2024. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  28. ^ "'The Paris Review' Wins the 2020 National Magazine Award for Fiction". The Paris Review. February 11, 2020. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  29. ^ "MFA in Writing Faculty". Pacific University. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  30. ^ "Kimberly King Parsons". Texas Book Festival. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  31. ^ Reviews of Black Light
    • "Fiction Reviews". Publishers Weekly; New York. 266 (23). June 10, 2019. ProQuest 2235714111.
    • Deuel, Nathan (18 August 2019). "BOOK REVIEW; Living vibrantly within harsh limitations". Los Angeles Times; Los Angeles, Calif. pp. F.8. ProQuest 2274597726.
  32. ^ Reviews of We Were the Universe
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