Kim Church‘s debut novel Byrd won the Crook’s Corner Book Prize, was an IPPY medalist, a Chautauqua Prize finalist, and long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and the SIBA Book Award. Her second novel, Lena and Rae, will be published in 2027.
Her short work has appeared in The Sun Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, Shenandoah (Pushcart Prize nominee), The Great Books Foundation Short Story Omnibus, Believer Logger, Cold Mountain Review, and other publications. Her honors include fiction fellowships from the North Carolina Arts Council and residencies at the Millay Colony, Vermont Studio Center, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She has led writing workshops in schools, at literary conferences, in homeless shelters, and on death row.
Born and raised in Lexington, North Carolina, Kim earned her B.A. in English from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and her J.D. from UNC School of Law. She worked for many years as a civil trial attorney, advocating for plaintiffs in civil rights, sexual abuse, fraud, malpractice, and product liability cases. She also taught and wrote in her field of practice.
She lives in Raleigh with her husband, artist Anthony Ulinski.
Watch A Day with Kim Church, a short author documentary by Anna Schwartz.
Read the interview Coffee break: Kim Church on Byrd.
Additional interviews and articles are online in Fiction Writers Review, The Nervous Breakdown, Bloom, Washington Independent Review of Books, and elsewhere.
Photo by Anthony Ulinski