Dr. Kirsten Imani Kasai is the author of The House of Erzulie (Shade Mountain Press), and the speculative series Ice Song and Tattoo (both from Del Rey). An Assistant Professor of Popular Fiction at Emerson College, she holds a PhD in English with a specialization in Gothic Research Studies from Manchester Metropolitan University, an MFA in Creative Writing and pedagogy certification in the Teaching of Creative Writing from Antioch University Los Angeles.
A mixed (Black & white) woman with Southern and Midwestern roots, Kirsten is inspired to explore cultural and theological intersections through her writing. As an educator, she fosters equitable learning spaces through holistic analysis, critical and creative thinking, and ethnographic storytelling, encouraging students to approach writing as a dynamic force for personal, artistic, and cultural expression. Her fiction and scholarship examine the intersections of gender, power, horror, the supernatural, and the grotesque in Gothic and speculative literature. Her fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in the Baltimore Review, Transition, Arts & Letters, Existere Journal of Arts & Literature, Drunk Monkeys, the American Journal of Economics and Sociology, The Body Horror Book, San Diego Reader, and more. She has been awarded residencies at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Storyknife Writers Retreat, and Inside Zone: Transilvanian Arts Residency.
Areas of expertise and interest include the EthnoGothic and Gothic, feminist literature, witchcraft studies, body horror, narrative ethics, utopias and dystopias in literature and popular culture, genre fiction (historical fiction, dark fantasy, science fiction, speculative fiction, and body horror), narratology, and hybrid, experimental, and multigenre writing. Across her creative and scholarly work, she is particularly interested in questions of embodiment, memory, identity, transformation, and cultural inheritance.
A mixed (Black & white) woman with Southern and Midwestern roots, Kirsten is inspired to explore cultural and theological intersections through her writing. As an educator, she fosters equitable learning spaces through holistic analysis, critical and creative thinking, and ethnographic storytelling, encouraging students to approach writing as a dynamic force for personal, artistic, and cultural expression. Her fiction and scholarship examine the intersections of gender, power, horror, the supernatural, and the grotesque in Gothic and speculative literature. Her fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in the Baltimore Review, Transition, Arts & Letters, Existere Journal of Arts & Literature, Drunk Monkeys, the American Journal of Economics and Sociology, The Body Horror Book, San Diego Reader, and more. She has been awarded residencies at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Storyknife Writers Retreat, and Inside Zone: Transilvanian Arts Residency.
Areas of expertise and interest include the EthnoGothic and Gothic, feminist literature, witchcraft studies, body horror, narrative ethics, utopias and dystopias in literature and popular culture, genre fiction (historical fiction, dark fantasy, science fiction, speculative fiction, and body horror), narratology, and hybrid, experimental, and multigenre writing. Across her creative and scholarly work, she is particularly interested in questions of embodiment, memory, identity, transformation, and cultural inheritance.
Film rights: Holloway Literary Agency
Interviews
"I like grit and blood and meat in my work." Write Through the Roof with Madeleine D'Este podcast
The Body Horror Book, Oscillate Wildly Press
Representation Rebellion #1: with Kirsten Imani Kasai About the F-word
Representation Rebellion #2: Dr. Z talks with Kirsten Imani Kasai about midlife, passion, and being a rebel
The Slide That Passes Through Two Dark Rooms: An interview with Kirsten Imani Kasai
San Diego Voyager "Inspiring Stories" I embrace the motto, “She who dares, wins.” But, in the case of creative writing, I say, “She who perseveres, publishes.”
Lumiere Lit: Art with a Purpose "Literature is a change agent. It should shake us up, push us beyond our comfort zones and break us open or put us back together. It is the mirror, the lens—a coalescing beam that can illuminate, clarify, reflect or ignite. "
The Educated Writer "I’ve really learned to listen to the characters and to allow the story to develop at its own pace. It’s a dance, a romance. There should be a constant edge of surprise and hopefulness in the process of discovering the characters, their desires, motivations and flaws."
My Writing Process Blog Tour "I like to write stories that leave 'what happened?' open to interpretation, like a puzzle you can return to and solve in new ways each time. I believe fiction should be challenging, emotionally stimulating and intellectually nourishing."
Drunk on Ink, Jaggery Lit | The Nervous Breakdown | Books Q&A with Deborah Kalb
2019 San Diego Writers Festival | RICK KLEFFEL'S AGONY COLUMN
Coffee Time Romance | Color Online | Romance Review Today | UnboundWorlds.com
Shared Worlds Project: Hand in Hand author advice
The Body Horror Book, Oscillate Wildly Press
Representation Rebellion #1: with Kirsten Imani Kasai About the F-word
Representation Rebellion #2: Dr. Z talks with Kirsten Imani Kasai about midlife, passion, and being a rebel
The Slide That Passes Through Two Dark Rooms: An interview with Kirsten Imani Kasai
San Diego Voyager "Inspiring Stories" I embrace the motto, “She who dares, wins.” But, in the case of creative writing, I say, “She who perseveres, publishes.”
Lumiere Lit: Art with a Purpose "Literature is a change agent. It should shake us up, push us beyond our comfort zones and break us open or put us back together. It is the mirror, the lens—a coalescing beam that can illuminate, clarify, reflect or ignite. "
The Educated Writer "I’ve really learned to listen to the characters and to allow the story to develop at its own pace. It’s a dance, a romance. There should be a constant edge of surprise and hopefulness in the process of discovering the characters, their desires, motivations and flaws."
My Writing Process Blog Tour "I like to write stories that leave 'what happened?' open to interpretation, like a puzzle you can return to and solve in new ways each time. I believe fiction should be challenging, emotionally stimulating and intellectually nourishing."
Drunk on Ink, Jaggery Lit | The Nervous Breakdown | Books Q&A with Deborah Kalb
2019 San Diego Writers Festival | RICK KLEFFEL'S AGONY COLUMN
Coffee Time Romance | Color Online | Romance Review Today | UnboundWorlds.com
Shared Worlds Project: Hand in Hand author advice