{*Clears Throat Aggressively*}
“Kinard’s poems form an intricate cosmology
that transcends the personal to reflect
on a close-knit, complex community.”
☆ Starred review in publishers weeklY ☆
About
Photo (& Gallery) credits: D.K. Turner, Théo Ceridwen, Justin Phillip Reed, Johnny Lee Chapman III, Jared Johnson, & Aster Equine Photography
WILLIE LEE KINARD III (he/they) is a Black nonbinary eDITOR, artist & musician forged in Newberry, South Carolina. Author of the poetry collection Orders of Service: A Fugue, winner of the 2022 Alice James Award (Alice James Books, 2023), he holds an M.F.A. in Poetry from the University of Pittsburgh & a B.F.A. in Graphic Design from the University of South Carolina. A 2023 Ruth Lilly & Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellow & Graduate Fellow of The Watering Hole, their musings include Gospel surrealism, Black romance & superstition.
With written work appearing or forthcoming in Obsidian, Shade Literary Arts, Southern Humanities Review, Poem-a-Day, Boston Review, The Rumpus & elsewhere, he is the Winner of POETRY (Magazine)’s 2021 J. Howard & Barbara M. J. Wood Prize & a Pushcart Prize Nominee. Recently making their acting debut at Trustus Theatre in the Ensemble of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Choir Boy, they make music under the moniker Stonfruut.
C.V. Available upon request.*
“Not enough to love your blessings; you’ve got to care for them too.”
Excerpt from “A Briar, a Bramble”
Featured in Shade Literary Arts
“The day dries me flowers & I thaw to someone tolerable.”
Excerpt from “À la Mode” (after Ashia Ajani)
Featured in Poetry Daily, From Southern Humanities Review
The Debut Poetry Collection of Willie Lee Kinard III
Orders of Service
A Fugue
Winner of the 2022 Alice James Award
AVAIlable Where books are sold
Praise for Orders of Service
“There are many queer urban narratives, but one is hard-pressed to hear from our astute country cousins. Backwoods have long been associated with backwards thinking, places that gays like us escape from, but here, in Kinard’s world, I get a strong sense of place-making in the proverbial sticks.”
—Richard Hamilton, Callaloo
“In the beginning, I would not call me pious; I would call me country…”
Excerpt from “Rhapsody, or Revelation, or Cerberus to the Fireflies”
Featured in Issue 45 of The Adroit Journal
“You may feel that the music may not just be an element or an ornament but a vehicle for escape.”
Excerpt from “Willie Lee Kinard III Vs. The Choir”
VS The Podcast with Brittany Rogers & Ajanaé Dawkins
Books
Orders of Service: A Fugue, Winner of the 2022 Alice James Award, Full-Length (Alice James Books, November 2023) [Buy It now!]
chroma., mixtape-chapbook (self-published, April 2016)
Writing & Media
POETRY
Poetry Daily | “À la Mode” (Reprint) (February 2026)
The Adroit Journal | “Rhapsody, or Revelation, or Cerberus to the Fireflies” (April 2023)
Poem-A-Day | “Aubade: Nocturne” (February 9, 2023)
Boston review | “The Choir, or Chatteracks” & 1 MORE (July 2022)
Foglifter, Volume 7, Issue 1 | “B{u/i}tter Pecan Apocrypha,” Print (may 2022)
The Adroit Journal | “Vocal Pedagogy” & 2 More (April 2022)
Poetry Daily | “What We Wayward Do” (Reprint) (November 2021)
pinwheel Journal, Issue 19 | “Offering” (August 2021)
POETRY | “A Tangle of Gorgons“ & “Bird in the Rain“ (January 2021)
Voicemail Poems | “Winged Victory of Samothrace,“ (Reprint) (October 2020)
WILDNESS, Issue 20 | “Self-Portrait Where I Am the Cricket“ & “Daniel 7/To Be Feral“ (August 2019)
The Shade Journal, Issue 2 | “Saudade“ (April 2017)
EDITORIAL
Lolwe | Issue 5 (Guest Editor) (June 2022)
The RUMPUS | “LIGHTNING RODS and LINE BREAKS: The malevolent volume by Justin Phillip Reed” (September 2021)
For The Scribes | “Weekend Wonders: Stargazing with Alysia Nicole Harris” (October 2016)
VIDEO & LIVE performance
Decatur Book Festival | “Poetry Reading with Willie Kinard III,” Decatur, GA (October 2024)
CAAPP & August Wilson House | Feeling the Spirit in the Dark Performance series, Collaboration with Shikeith & Jaylen T. Strong, Pittsburgh, pa (January 2021)
Soda City Story Slam | “Gratitude,” Columbia, SC (June 2016)
Souls 'N Substance | “Lit,” Columbia, SC (December 2014)
Podcasts & INTERVIEWS
Hues of Seven Podcast | “A Creative Conversation with Willie Lee Kinard III” (May 2025)
#whatshesaidproject | “Year of Nos: Interview with Poet Willie Kinard III” (December 2023)
VS the Podcast | “Willie Lee Kinard III vs. The Choir” (October 2023)
fig Widow cast | “Legacy Legacy w. Willie Kinard III” (August 2023)
The Poetry Question: tpq20 Podcast | “S5epE15: Willie Lee Kinard III” (may 2023)
Poem-a-Day | “Willie Lee Kinard III: ‘Aubade: Nocturne’” (February 2023)
All You Do Is Talk Podcast | “Poetry, Music & Film with Willie Lee Kinard III” (April 2022)
Richland Library | “Artist Spotlight: Willie Kinard III” (June 2021)
[in brackets] PodcasT | “Willie Lee Kinard III: Interview with Joshua Bennett” (May 2019)
What's good?
Willie can be retained as a speaker, reader, workshop facilitator, or singer through the contact form below. Inquiries on publications, writings, poems, songwriting, brand & website design are appreciated & emails will be answered as his schedule permits. Email williekinardpoetry[at]gmail.com.