Kristen Arnett is the queer Floridian author of the novels STOP ME IF YOU’VE HEARD THIS ONE (Riverhead Books, 2025) which was a finalist for the Southern Book Prize, was shortlisted for the Comedy Women in Print Prize, and was awarded a silver medal from The Florida Book Awards, With Teeth (Riverhead Books, 2021) which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in fiction, and the New York Times bestselling debut Mostly Dead Things (Tin House, 2019) which was also a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in fiction and was shortlisted for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. She was awarded a Shearing Fellowship at Black Mountain Institute, has held residencies at Ragdale Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, the Millay Colony, and the Studios of Key West, and was longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize. She is the Florida Chair for Authors Against Book Bans. Her work has appeared at The New York Times, TIME, Vogue, The Cut, Oprah Magazine, PBS Newshour, The Guardian, Salon, The Washington Post, and elsewhere. Her upcoming short fiction collection, Party at the End of the World, will be published by Riverhead Books in Spring 2027. She has a Masters in Library and Information Science from Florida State University and lives in Orlando, Florida.
We thrilled to welcome Kristen Arnett back to Word of South where she will appear on the Flamingo Magazine Stage!