Kathryn Kysar holds a B.A. in English and Anthropology with a minor in Sociology from Hamline University and a Masters Degree in Creative Writing in Poetry from Wichita State University. She has done additional coursework at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Minnesota, and Bemidji State University. 

She is the author of two books of poetry, Dark Lake and Pretend the World, and she edited the anthology Riding Shotgun:  Women Write About Their Mothers.  She has received creative writing fellowships and residencies from the Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts, the Minnesota State Arts Board, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Oberholtzer Foundation. Her poems have been heard on A Writer’s Almanac and have appeared in anthologies such as To Sing Along the Way and Good Poems, American Places. Kysar has served on the board of directors for the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) and Rain Taxi Review.  Her latest creative project was a collaborative CD of poetry from Pretend the World.

Kysar is passionate about teaching because she loves learning.  She often engages students with special topics in her 1121 classes.  Other classes she regularly teaches are International Literature, Introduction to Creative Writing, Introduction to Creative Nonfiction Writing, A Writer's Life, and many other literature and creative writing courses.  

You can learn more about her and her many publications at www.kathyrnkysar.com.