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General Interests
"I love stories-mining for them, discovering the characters who abide in them, sifting through the grit and uncovering bits of shiny things hidden there. In my short story collection, Ten Tongues, I explore the inherent darkness of human nature and its equal capacity for light. I am drawn to and driven by symbol, metaphor, and the deeper meaning all stories possess, the surprises that come out in the process of writing. I hope one thing for my characters and that is that they get to be who they are, no matter how insane, hopeless or plain their lives. William Gay, Flannery O'Connor, Kent Haruf, Cormac McCarthy, Raymond Carver and Toni Morrison are just some of the writers I admire."
Years at Knox: 2006 to present
Education
M.F.A., 2005, Spalding University.
B.A., 2000, Knox College.
Teaching Interests
Creative writing, beginning to advanced fiction and non-fiction taught in a workshop setting, composition and rhetoric, modern and contemporary American literature with an emphasis on Southern writers.
Honors/Grants
Top Ten Finalist 2009 storySouth Million Writers Award.
Post Graduate Residency Assistant, Spalding University, May 2008.
Commencement Speaker, Spalding University, May 2005.
Short-list, Raymond Carver Short Story Award, 2004.
Spalding University Graduate Student Fellowship, 2003.
Cum laude, Knox College, 2000.
Davenport Prize in Poetry, 2000.
Publications
"A Lightbulb Moment" Bless Your Heart anthology, DRT Press, Forthcoming.
Ten Tongues: stories. Louisville: MotesBooks, October 2010.
"It Could Be Worse" Mamas and Papas anthology, City Works Press, 2010.
"Prosthesis" You Must Be This Tall to Ride, August 2010.
"Time and Time Again." Menda City Review, Spring 2009.
"Diagnosis." Ars Medica, Summer 2009.
"Period." Women. Period. An Anthology of Women Writers on Menstruation, August 2008.
"Breathless." Opium Magazine, September 2008.
"Nothing Could Prepare Me." The Louisville Review, forthcoming, Fall 2008.
"Every Earth is Fit for Burial." Menda City Review, Spring 2008.
"The Raccoon in the Wall." Minnetonka Review, Spring 2008.
"Ashes Ashes." The Louisville Review, Fall 2007.
"Disaster Preparedness." Blood Lotus, Fall 2007.
"You Made It, Whatever It Is." Keepgoing.org, Summer 2007.
"The Ugly Truth Behind My Adorable Neighborhood Coffeeshop." New Southerner, June/July 2006.
"Phone Marrow." Literary Mama, February 2006.
"Savior." Santa Fe Writers Project/sfwp.org, January 2006.
"Witness to a Family's Crushing Grief." Chicago Tribune, November 2005.
"How to Avoid Sex With a Man Who Weighs 300 Lbs. More Than You." Carve Magazine, September 2004.
Presentations
InKY Reading Series, Louisville, Kentucky, December 2010.
Knox College Caxton Club, October 2010.
Readings, from my short story collection, Ten Tongues, Spalding University, Louisville, Kentucky, 2008.
What Students Say
"Cyn is not only one of my favorite teachers, she is also one of the most inspiring people I have had the chance to meet. Her availability to her students is impressive on so many levels--not only is she more than willing to sit down for an hour or more to talk with you about your writing, she is also remarkably honest and upfront about her own past experiences, especially in her writing. Her ability to share so much of herself gives us, her students, the courage to dig deeper into ourselves, deeply enriching our own work with our unique pasts."
-Ashley Blazina, Environmental Studies major, English Literature minor
"Professor Cyn Kitchen is a mastermind of insight of which she clearly encourages her students to be as well. Cyn always comes into the classroom with new and exciting ways to start class so that the everyone is eager to get involved in discussion. Also, both inside and outside of the classroom, Cyn is light-hearted, laid-back, and helpful enough to always make herself available at the Gizmo when you're stuck with ideas for revision."
-Beth Root, English Literature and Educational Studies double major
Like many Knox College students, Steve Galdek is fond of the squirrels wandering around campus. His research project is enabling him to learn more about their winter-survival strategies.
A few weeks after completing an international assignment to take photos of newly arrived pandas in Scotland, Knox College instructor Michael Godsil is asked to document the delivery of two more pandas in France.
Knox College introduces KnoxReads, an online book discussion. The first selection is "Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion across the Islamic World," by writer and foreign policy analyst Robin Wright, who visits Knox on February 28.
