Kimberly Garza, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Director of Creative Writing, English
Contact
- MH 4.02.36
- 210-458-4374
- kimberly.garza3@utsa.edu
- Curriculum Vitae
- 210-458-5366
Bio
Kimberly Garza (she/her) is an Associate Professor in the Department of English. She is Director of the Creative Writing Program as well as a core faculty member in creative writing. Her research and teaching interests include creative writing, Latinx and ethnic studies—specifically Mexican-American and Texas literature—and regional/place-based studies. She received a Ph.D. in English-Creative Writing from the University of North Texas, and a B.A. in English and Spanish and an M.A. in English-Creative Writing from the University of Texas at Austin.
As a creative writer, Dr. Garza works in fiction and nonfiction. She is the author of the critically acclaimed novel The Last Karankawas, published in 2022 by Henry Holt & Company, about Galveston Island and Hurricane Ike told from the perspectives of a chorus of characters. Her short stories and essays have been published in journals including Copper Nickel, DIAGRAM, TriQuarterly, Creative Nonfiction, Huizache, Cutbank, and Bennington Review. Her writing has been supported by a National Endowment of the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship (2024) and scholarships from the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers Conference and the Michener Center for Writers. Her essay “We Were Known For Our Rivers,” about her hometown of Uvalde, was published in 2023 in Texas Highways and earned recognition from Nieman Storyboard and the International Regional Media Association essay awards.
A native Texan, Dr. Garza is active in the San Antonio and Texas literary community, often collaborating with Gemini Ink, the San Antonio Book Festival, Verso Frontera, and the Writers’ League of Texas. She serves as associate fiction editor for The Boiler and has worked at literary journals including Bat City Review and American Literary Review. She is the faculty advisor for UTSA’s student-run literary journal, Sagebrush Review.
Teaching
Recent & Upcoming Courses
Undergraduate
- Advanced Fiction Writing
- Topics in Creative Writing: Creative Nonfiction
Graduate
- Latino/a Studies
- Graduate Fiction Workshop
Research Interests
- Creative writing
- Contemporary fiction and nonfiction
- Chicanx literature
- Ethnic and American literature
- Border literature
- Place/space
Honors and Awards
Presentations
Grants, Patents and Clinical Trials
Publications
- Summer 2023. “We Were Known For Our Rivers,” creative nonfiction, Texas Highways (https://texashighways.com/culture/the-rivers-take-you-home/)
- Spring 2020. “Not Eagle, Not Star,” fiction, Contra Viento (https://contravientojournal.org/not-eagle-not-star-kimberly-garza/)
- Fall 2019. “The Seedy Corner,” creative nonfiction, DIAGRAM (http://thediagram.com/19_4/garza.html)
- Fall 2019. “The Queens of Santo Niño,” fiction, Copper Nickel (http://copper-nickel.org/journal/fall-2019/)
Books:
-
The Last Karankawas. Henry Holt & Company, 2022. (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250871527/thelastkarankawas)
