Marilyn Krysl

Marilyn Krysl (born 1942) is an American writer of short stories and poetry who is known for her quirky and witty storytelling.

She has published four short story collections along with seven collections of poetry.

Marilyn Krysl, as a senior in high school, won the 1960 Oregon Award for Creativity.

1960 Oregon Award for Creativity, University of Oregon full tuition scholarship

She entered the University of Oregon on a full tuition scholarship, courtesy of the award, in 1961.

As an undergraduate she won the Alicia Woods Poetry Award, Julia Burgess Poetry Award, Peter Pauper Press Essay Prize, and the Ernest Haycox Short Story Prize.

1961 Alicia Woods Poetry Award, University of Oregon

1961 Julia Burgess Poetry Award, University of Oregon

1961 Peter Pauper Press Essay Prize

She graduated in 1964, completed her MFA at University of Oregon in 1968, and in 1972 accepted a faculty position in the Dept of English at University of Colorado, Boulder.

She later served in the Department as Director of Creative Writing.

At the invitation of Naomi Horii, Horii and Krysl co-edited and launched the literary journal Many Mountains Moving.

1964 Ernest Haycox Short Story Prize, University of Oregon

1971 Harlan Ellison Speculative Fiction Fellowship, Writers Conference, University of Colorado

1974 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship

1977-78 Faculty Fellowship, University of Colorado

1979 Utah State Arts Council Traveling Poetry Exhibition

1980 Finalist, San Francisco State Poetry Center Book Prize

1981 John O’Hara Journal Fiction Prize for Mozart, Westmoreland and Me 1981 Oasis Prize, Poetry Society of Georgia, for “The Unicorn.”

1984 Kansas Quarterly Poetry Prize, for “The Beautiful Alive Alone Illusion”

1985 YADDO Fellowship

1986 Arts and Humanities Book Award, University of Colorado

1986-87 Artist in Residence and Artist’s Commission, Center for Human Caring,

Health Sciences Center, University of Colorado

1989 Performing Arts Grant, Boulder Arts Commission

1989 President’s Fund for the Humanities Grant, University of Colorado

1990 Mountains and Plains Booksellers’ Assoc.

Award for Poetry

for What We Have To Live With

1991-92 Faculty Fellowship, University of Colorado

1993 Negative Capability Award for Fiction

1995 Spoon River Poetry Review Poetry Prize

1996 Cleveland State Poetry Center Book Prize and publication

1997 American Council of Learned Societies Contemplative Fellowship

in conjunction with Marcia Westkott of Women Studies

2000-2001 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship

2001 Lawrence Foundation Prize for Fiction, from Prairie Schooner

2002 Essay Prize, from Prairie Schooner

She has won several awards for her work, including the 2008 Richard Sullivan Prize for short fiction for her collection of short stories, Dinner With Osama, which is a sociopolitical satire of post-9/11 America.

Krysl also submits work to The Atlantic journal, The Nation journal, and The New Republic journal, as well as being an editor of Many Mountains Moving: A Literary Journal of Diverse, Contemporary Voices along with Naomi Horii.