{*Clears Throat Aggressively*}
“Kinard’s poems form an intricate cosmology
that transcends the personal to reflect
on a close-knit, complex community.”
☆ Starred review in publishers weeklY ☆
The Debut Poetry Collection of Willie Lee Kinard III
Orders of Service
A Fugue
Winner of the 2022 Alice James Award
AVAIlable Where books are sold
Praise for Orders of Service
“Each line puts a phrase from the previous line in a different context; swift upturnings and interchanging images… are the spine of Kinard’s complex, stunning, and unexpected image systems.”
—Daniella Toosie-Watson, Cincinnati Review
“I think I have an allegiance to music…”
excerpt from “Legacy Legacy w. Willie Kinard III”
Fig Widow cast with Dani Janae
“In the beginning, I would not call me pious; I would call me country…”
Excerpt from “Rhapsody, or Revelation, or Cerberus to the Fireflies”
Featured in Issue 45 of The Adroit Journal
“My first words were ‘Whoomp! there it is…’ ”
Excerpt from “Willie Lee Kinard III Vs. The Choir”
VS The Podcast with Brittany Rogers & Ajanaé Dawkins
About
Photo credits: Théo Ceridwen, Justin Phillip Reed, Johnny Lee Chapman III & Lucille B. Kinard.
WILLIE LEE KINARD III (he/they) is a poet, designer, educator & musician forged in Newberry, South Carolina. The Author of Orders of Service, winner of the 2022 Alice James Award, forthcoming from Alice James Books in November 2023, he holds An M.F.A. in Creative Writing-Poetry from the University of Pittsburgh & a B.F.A. in Graphic Design from the University of South Carolina. a 2023 Ruth Lilly & Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellow & Graduate Fellow of The Watering Hole, Their musings include Gospel surrealism, Black romance & superstition.
With written work appearances in Oversound, Obsidian, Poem-a-Day, Boston Review & elsewhere, he is the Winner of POETRY (Magazine)’s 2021 J. Howard & Barbara M. J. Wood Prize & a Pushcart Prize Nominee. Kinard is an avid believer in evening thunderstorms & loose-leaf tea. They teach English at the University of South Carolina.
C.V. Available upon request.*
Books
Orders of Service, Winner of the 2022 Alice James Award, Full-Length (Alice James Books, forthcoming November 2023) [Buy It now!]
chroma., mixtape-chapbook (self-published, April 2016)
Writing & Media
POETRY
The Adroit Journal | “Rhapsody, or Revelation, or Cerberus to the Fireflies” (April 2023)
Poem-A-Day | “Aubade: Nocturne” (February 9, 2023)
Boston review | “The Choir, or Chatteracks” & 1 MORE (July 2022)
Foglifter, Volume 7, Issue 1 | “B{u/i}tter Pecan Apocrypha,” Print (may 2022)
The Adroit Journal | “Vocal Pedagogy” & 2 More (April 2022)
Poetry Daily | “What We Wayward Do” (Reprint) (November 2021)
pinwheel Journal, Issue 19 | “Offering” (August 2021)
POETRY | “A Tangle of Gorgons“ & “Bird in the Rain,“ Print (January 2021)
Voicemail Poems | “Winged Victory of Samothrace“ (Reprint) (October 2020)
Slush Pile Magazine | “Throw Honey to the Wind & Watch Bees Come Back“ & 1 More (February 2020)
WILDNESS, Issue 20 | “Self-Portrait Where I Am the Cricket“ & “Daniel 7/To Be Feral“ (August 2019)
Crab Fat Magazine | “Postcard“ (November 2018)
Shade literary arts (Formerly the Shade Journal), Issue 2 | “Saudade“ (April 2017)
articles & EDITORIAL
Lolwe | Issue 5 (Guest Editor) (June 2022)
The RUMPUS | “LIGHTNING RODS and LINE BREAKS: The malevolent volume by Justin Phillip Reed” (September 2021)
For the Scribes | The Fresh Ink Anthology (co-editor) (July 2017)
For the Scribes | “Weekend Wonders: Stargazing with Alysia Nicole Harris“ (October 2016)
media & performances
CAAPP & August Wilson House | Feeling the Spirit in the Dark Performance series, Collaboration with Shikeith & Jaylen T. Strong, Pittsburgh, pa (January 2021)
[in brackets] PodcasT | Interview with Joshua Bennett, Pittsburgh, PA (May 2019)
Soda City Story Slam | “Gratitude,” Columbia, SC (June 2016)
Souls 'N Substance | “Lit,” Columbia, SC (December 2014)
Press & INTERVIEWS
Charleston City Paper | “Piccolo embraces vulnerability, expression with Sundown Poetry Series” (June 2023)
The Poetry Question: tpq20 Podcast | “S5epE15: Willie Lee Kinard III” (may 2023)
Shade literary arts | “2023 Forthcoming Poetry Books by Queer People of Color” (January 2023)
All You Do Is Talk Podcast | “Poetry, Music & Film with Willie Lee Kinard III” (April 2022)
Richland Library | “Artist Spotlight: Willie Kinard III” (June 2021)
COLORLINES | “National Poetry Month 2021: 5 Queer Poets Who Create Outside the Margins” (April 2021)
OTHER MUSINGS
For the scribes, writers’ wellness platform (Est. September 2015)
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