A Key Part of the Human Condition

“As a writer and as a reader, I really believe in the power of narrative to allow us ways to experience life beyond our own; ways to reflect on things that have happened to us and a chance to engage with the world in ways that transcend time and gender and all sorts of things.” – Kim Edwards

Born on this date in 1959, Edwards is the author of two bestselling novels – The Memory Keeper's Daughter, which has been translated into 38 languages, and The Lake of Dreams – plus a collection of short stories, The Secrets of a Fire King.   Her writing honors include the Whiting Award, the British Book Award, and USA Today's Book of the Year (for Memory Keeper’s Daughter).

A graduate of Colgate University and the Iowa Writers' Workshop, she has taught widely in the US and Asia and now makes her teaching home at the University of Kentucky.    

                                In her teaching, Edwards says she often reflects on people’s desire to share stories as one of the things “that make us human.”   “I don’t think we’ll ever lose the desire for people to tell stories or to hear stories or to be entrapped in a beautiful story,” she said.  "It’s simply a part of the human condition."

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