Lydia Kann, Paris, 2017
Lydia writes fiction and nonfiction stories, essays, and memoir. She has an essay, “Nora’s Wedding,” in the Spring 2024 issue of Consequence, a literary journal about the impact of war. She has had stories published in The Threepenny Review, The American Literary Review, Nimrod International Journal, Brain,Child, Kitchen Table Quarterly where her piece was chosen to be republished in the 2021-2022 Notable Features issue, and also anthologies. She has been a finalist for fiction prizes in The Iowa Review, Glimmer Train, New Letters, The Journal, Black Warrior Review, Snake Nation Press, the Kore Press, American Literary Review where she was Runner Up for their Fiction Prize, and in the Nimrod International Journal where she has twice received Honorable Mentions.
Kann was an art and writing resident at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris 2017-2018. She attended writing residencies at La Napoule in France in 2014, was a 2012 writing resident at CAMAC in France, a 2005 writing resident at the Djerassi Artist Colony in California, and a 2008 writing resident at the Julia and David White Artist Colony in Costa Rica. She received scholarships at the Norman Mailer Writers Colony 2010-2012, attended the Bread Loaf Conference, was a presenter at the Write Angles Conference in MA, a contributor at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and has attended and read at numerous other writing workshops including Stonecoast Writers’ Conference, at workshops with Alison Lurie, Amy Bloom, Frederick Reiken, and Grace Paley.
Hannah Tinti, Judge for the American Literary Review’s 2012 Fiction Contest, writes of Lydia’s runner-up story, “The Sweetness of the Vine”: The language is what stood out the most to me in this piece–there were so many beautiful sentences–and the way the author jumped around in time, to flash into different memories… worked very well to capture the narrator’s emotional state and felt very authentic and true.
Nina Schuyler reviews Lydia’s story, “The Arrival,” which earned honorable mention in Nimrod’s Literary Awards: (The story) makes an art form out of the style technique called ellipsis.
CLMP (Community of Literary Magazines and Presses) chose Lydia’s piece, “A Stitch in Time,” for their 2022 Jewish Book Month reading list.