A 1995 Graduate of the MFA Writing Program at UNC Greensboro, Kelly Link is the author of the collections Get in Trouble, Stranger Things Happen, Magic for Beginners, and Pretty Monsters. She and Gavin J. Grant have co-edited a number of anthologies, including multiple volumes of The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror and, for young adults, Monstrous Affections and Steampunk!
Michael Chabon called Link “the most darkly playful voice in American fiction” and Neil Gaiman wrote she “. . .should be declared a national treasure.” In her lectures, Link transports audiences into the vibrant “pocket universes” of her stories, while also sharing thoughtful and entertaining reflections from her writing and publishing careers.
Link’s short stories have been published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, A Public Space, Tin House, One Story, Conjunctions, The Best American Short Stories, and Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards. She has received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and was a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for her short story collection Get In Trouble.
In a 2016 interview for The Millions, Link recalls her time at UNCG: “My favorite thing was working on The Greensboro Review. I loved reading the slush, and I loved proofing the stories that we published. One person would read the story out loud, including the punctuation marks, and the other would sight read the proofs to make sure everything was clean. Jim Clark is a marvel; UNCG always felt like a family because of him”
Link is the co-founder of Small Beer Press, which has been recognized as a leading small publisher of literary science fiction and fantasy. She is also a co-editor of the zine Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet which features an eclectic mix of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction.
She currently lives with her husband and daughter in Northampton, Massachusetts.
