kari edwards

kari edwards was a poet, an artist, and a gender activist who defied categorical imperatives and celebrated fluidity in both life and art. In her work, she often explored themes related to gender nonconformity, social constructs, and the interplay of language and identity.

edwards's works include post/(pink) (Scarlet Press, 2000), a day in the life of p. (Subpress Collective, 2002), a diary of lies (Litmus Press/Belladonna Books, 2002), iduna (O Books, 2003), obedience (Factory School, 2005), and the posthumously published Bharat jiva (Litmus Press, 2009) and succubus in my pocket (EOAGH Books, 2015). She received a New Langton Arts Bay Area Award in literature in 2002 and Small Press Traffic’s Book of the Year Award in 2004. edwards won a 2016 Lambda Literary Award in the category of Transgender Poetry for her book succubus in my pocket.

edwards was born in Illinois in 1954 and raised in Westfield, New York. After completing her studies in sculpture, she taught in the art department at the University of Denver. She furthered her education by earning an MA in psychology and an MFA in writing and poetics from the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado. There, edwards was deeply influenced by the diverse community of writers, most notably by experimental poet and teacher Anne Waldman, who pushed boundaries and transcended traditional forms.

Upon graduation from Naropa in 2000, edwards relocated to San Francisco and immersed herself in the city's vibrant poetry scene and the LGBTQ+ community. She initiated a blog titled transdada which served as both a poetic platform and a space for political discourse, thus exemplifying her belief in the intertwining of art and advocacy. Throughout the 2000s, edwards became an influential voice in both the poetry and LGBTQ+ communities. Her commitment to activism was as robust as her dedication to poetry. She was an outspoken critic of discriminatory policies, especially those affecting transgender individuals. 

In a 2003 Rain Taxi interview with Akilah Oliver, edwards remarked

Gender is one of those things that is assumed to be solid, where in reality it is both a social construct and a personal choice. And like everything else gender is neither solid nor permanent; it's [sic] only permanence is perpetrated by the state, family, or the church. … With gender, would we have gender stability if there were not the oppression of gender-centric behavior?

edwards went on to talk about her book a day in the life of p., in which she employed a radical deconstruction of language to push readers to recognize the limitations of prescriptive grammar and the inherent fluidity of meaning. She said, “I think naming things can be a tool for both liberation and oppression. So for me language becomes a tool that can be used and then destroyed or reused again in a different way.”

edwards contributed work to Blood & Tears: Poems for Matthew Shepard (Painted Leaf Press, 1999), Transgenderism: InterSEXions of the Others (Routledge, 2004), Civil Disobediences: Poetics and Politics in Action (Coffee House Press, 2004), and the International Journal of Sexuality and Gender Studies. She is the subject of No Gender: Reflections on the Life & Work of kari edwards,edited by E. Tracy Grinnell, erica kaufman, and Julian Talamantez Brolaski (Litmus Press/Belladonna, 2009).

The Naropa University Summer Writing Program established an annual kari edwards scholarship to celebrate innovative poets who, like edwards did, challenge and reshape poetic form.