# Kevin Powers > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Kevin_Powers > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Kevin_Powers.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Powers > Source revision: 1294003403 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|American novelist (born 1980)}} '''Kevin Powers''' (born 1980) is an American fiction writer, poet, and [Iraq War](/source/Iraq_War) veteran. {{Infobox writer | name = Kevin Powers | image = Kevin Powers 2023 Texas Book Festival.jpg | caption = Powers at the 2023 Texas Book Festival | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1980}} | birth_place = [Richmond, Virginia](/source/Richmond%2C_Virginia), US | occupation = {{flatlist| * Novelist * poet * soldier }} | genre = [Literary fiction](/source/Literary_fiction) | period = 2012–present (as an author) | subject = [Iraq War](/source/Iraq_War) | language = English | website = {{URL|kevincpowers.com}} | alma_mater = [Virginia Commonwealth University](/source/Virginia_Commonwealth_University)
[University of Texas at Austin](/source/University_of_Texas_at_Austin) | notable_works = ''[The Yellow Birds](/source/The_Yellow_Birds)'' (2012) }} ==Early life, tour, and education== Powers was born and raised in [Richmond, Virginia](/source/Richmond%2C_Virginia), the son of a factory worker and a postman. He attended [James River High School](/source/James_River_High_School_(Chesterfield_County%2C_Virginia)){{cite news|title=The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers wins Guardian First Book Award|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/gnm-press-office/kevin-powers-wins-guardian-first-book-award|date=November 30, 2012|accessdate=December 22, 2012}} and enlisted in the U.S. Army at the age of seventeen. Six years later, in 2004, he served a one-year tour in Iraq as a machine gunner assigned to an engineer unit.BBC Radio 4, Front Row, 7 September 2012 Powers served in Mosul and Tal Afar, Iraq, from February 2004 to March 2005. After his honorable discharge, Powers enrolled in [Virginia Commonwealth University](/source/Virginia_Commonwealth_University), where he graduated in 2008 with a bachelor's degree in English. He holds an MFA from the [University of Texas at Austin](/source/University_of_Texas_at_Austin), where he was a Michener Fellow in Poetry.{{cite web| url = http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2012_f_powers.html#.U3Q-al5hNuZ,| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121013181142/http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2012_f_powers.html| archive-date = 2012-10-13| title = Kevin Powers, The Yellow Birds - National Book Award Fiction Finalist, The National Book Foundation}}{{cite web |url=http://www.utexas.edu/know/2012/05/18/powers_kevin_yellow_birds/ |title=A poet borne from war « Know |website=www.utexas.edu |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120521230845/http://www.utexas.edu/know/2012/05/18/powers_kevin_yellow_birds/ |archive-date=2012-05-21}} ==''The Yellow Birds''== Powers's first novel ''[The Yellow Birds](/source/The_Yellow_Birds)'', which drew on his experiences in the Iraq War, garnered a lucrative advance from publisher Michael Pietsch at Little, Brown. It has been called "a classic of contemporary war fiction" by [Michiko Kakutani](/source/Michiko_Kakutani), book critic for [''The'' ''New York Times''](/source/The_New_York_Times).{{Cite news |date=2012-09-06 |title=Soldiering Amid Hyacinths and Horror (Published 2012) |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/07/books/the-yellow-birds-by-kevin-powers.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240512114804/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/07/books/the-yellow-birds-by-kevin-powers.html |archive-date=2024-05-12 |access-date=2024-12-23 |language=en |last1=Kakutani |first1=Michiko |url-status=live }} The magazine subsequently named the novel one of the publication's 10 favorite books of 2012.{{Cite web |date=2012-12-03 |title=New York Times: 10 Best Books of 2012 |url=https://www.yearendlists.com/2012/new-york-times-10-best-books-of-2012 |access-date=2024-12-23 |website=www.yearendlists.com |language=en-us}} Wrote Kakutani: "At once a freshly imagined [bildungsroman](/source/bildungsroman) and a metaphysical parable about the loss of innocence and the uses of memory, it's a novel that will stand with Tim O'Brien's enduring Vietnam book, ''[The Things They Carried](/source/The_Things_They_Carried)'' (1990), as a classic of contemporary war fiction."{{cite news|last=Kakutani|first=Michiko|title=Michiko Kakutani's 10 Favorite Books of 2012'|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/21/books/michiko-kakutanis-favorite-10-books-of-2012.html|date=December 17, 2012|accessdate=December 21, 2012}} In an interview with ''[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)'', Powers expounded his motivation for writing ''The Yellow Birds'': "One of the reasons that I wrote this book was the idea that people kept saying: 'What was it like over there?' It seemed that it was not an information-based problem. There was lots of information around. But what people really wanted was to know what it felt like; physically, emotionally and psychologically."{{cite web|last=Harris|first=Paul|title=Emerging wave of Iraq fiction examines America's role in 'bullshit war'|website=[TheGuardian.com](/source/TheGuardian.com)|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jan/03/iraq-fiction-us-military-war|date=January 3, 2013|accessdate=January 3, 2013}} Asked about the best book of 2012, writer [Dave Eggers](/source/Dave_Eggers) said this to ''[The Observer](/source/The_Observer)'': "There are a bunch of books I could mention, but the book I find myself pushing on people more than any other is ''The Yellow Birds'' by Kevin Powers. The author fought in Iraq with the US army, and then, many years later, this gorgeous novel emerged. Next to ''[The Forever War](/source/The_Forever_War_(Filkins_book))'' by [Dexter Filkins](/source/Dexter_Filkins), it's the best thing I've read about the war in Iraq, and by far the best novel. Powers is a poet first, so the book is spare, incredibly precise, unimproveable. And it's easily the saddest book I've read in many years. But sad in an important way."{{cite news|last=Day|first=Elizabeth|title=Dave Eggers: 'We tend to look everywhere but the mirror' – interview|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jan/26/dave-eggers-hologram-king-interview|newspaper=[The Observer](/source/The_Observer)|date=January 26, 2013|accessdate=January 26, 2013}} Not all critics were so laudatory of ''The Yellow Birds'', however. [Ron Charles](/source/Ron_Charles_(critic)) of ''[The Washington Post](/source/The_Washington_Post)'' wrote that "frankly, the parts of ''The Yellow Birds'' are better than the whole. Some chapters lack sufficient power, others labor under the influence of classic war stories, rather than arising organically from the author's unique vision."[Charles, Ron](/source/Ron_Charles_(critic)) (September 25, 2012). [https://archive.today/20130630161344/http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-09-25/entertainment/35495401_1_ben-fountain-iraq-war-novel/2 "'The Yellow Birds,' a Novel of Grit, Grace and Blood by an Iraq War Veteran."] ''[The Washington Post](/source/The_Washington_Post)''. Retrieved January 7, 2021. Michael Larson of ''[Salon](/source/Salon.com)'' argues that the book is ruined by "boggy lyricism{{nbsp}}... There's never a sky not worthy of a few adjectives."Larson, Michael (December 11, 2021). [http://www.salon.com/2012/12/11/stop_giving_war_veteran_novelists_a_free_pass/ "Stop Giving War-Veteran Novelists a Free Pass."] ''[Salon](/source/Salon.com)''. Retrieved January 6, 2021. And Theo Tait of the ''[London Review of Books](/source/London_Review_of_Books)'' argued that the book "labours under the weight of a massive [Hemingway](/source/Ernest_Hemingway) crush{{nbsp}}... a trainwreck, from the first inept and imprecise simile, to the tin-eared rhythms, to the final incoherent thought."{{Cite news |last=Tait |first=Theo |date=2013-01-03 |title=The Hemingway Crush |language=en |volume=35 |work=London Review of Books |issue=1 |url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v35/n01/theo-tait/the-hemingway-crush |access-date=2023-11-08 |issn=0260-9592}} The book has been adapted on screen in 2017, ''[The Yellow Birds](/source/The_Yellow_Birds_(film))'' was directed by [Alexandre Moors](/source/Alexandre_Moors) and starred [Jack Huston](/source/Jack_Huston), [Alden Ehrenreich](/source/Alden_Ehrenreich), [Tye Sheridan](/source/Tye_Sheridan) and [Jennifer Aniston](/source/Jennifer_Aniston). ==Recent career== {{Missing section|date=December 2024}} ==Awards and honors== {| class="wikitable sortable" ! scope="col" | Year !! Title !! Award !! Category !! Result !! {{Abbreviation|Ref.|Reference}} |- ! rowspan="3" | 2012 | rowspan="6" | ''[The Yellow Birds](/source/The_Yellow_Birds)'' || [Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize](/source/Center_for_Fiction_First_Novel_Prize)|| — || {{sho}} || {{cite web |title=The Center for Fiction |url=http://www.centerforfiction.org/awards/the-flaherty-dunnan-first-novel-prize/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130706111042/http://www.centerforfiction.org/awards/the-flaherty-dunnan-first-novel-prize/ |archive-date=2013-07-06 |website=www.centerforfiction.org}} |- | [Guardian First Book Award](/source/Guardian_First_Book_Award) || — || {{won}} || [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/nov/08/guardian-first-book-award-2012-shortlist The Guardian, 8 November 2012]{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/nov/29/guardian-first-book-award-2012-kevin-powers |title=Guardian first book award 2012 goes to Kevin Powers |work=[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian) |author=Alison Flood |date=29 November 2012 |accessdate=December 2, 2012}} |- | [National Book Award](/source/National_Book_Award) || [Fiction](/source/National_Book_Award_for_Fiction)|| {{sho}} || {{cite web |url=http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/2012/10/in-the-bookroom/national-book-award-finalists-announced-today/ |title=National Book Award Finalists Announced Today |work=[Library Journal](/source/Library_Journal) |author= |date=October 10, 2012 |accessdate=November 15, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121206014159/http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/2012/10/in-the-bookroom/national-book-award-finalists-announced-today/ |archive-date=December 6, 2012 |url-status=dead }} |- ! rowspan="2" | 2013 | [Anisfield-Wolf Book Award](/source/Anisfield-Wolf_Book_Award) || — || {{won}} || anisfield-wolf.org |- | [PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel](/source/PEN%2FHemingway_Award_for_Debut_Novel) || — || {{won}} || {{Cite web |title=2013 PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Fiction |url=https://pen.org/2013-pen-hemingway-award-for-debut-fiction/ |access-date=2024-12-23 |website=PEN America |language=en-US}} |- ! rowspan="2" |2014 |[International Dublin Literary Award](/source/International_Dublin_Literary_Award) |— |{{Nominated|Longlisted}} |{{Cite web |last=IGO |date=2023-10-26 |title=The Yellow Birds |url=https://dublinliteraryaward.ie/the-library/books/the-yellow-birds/ |access-date=2025-02-23 |website=Dublin Literary Award |language=en-US}} |- |''Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting'' |[Forward Prizes for Poetry](/source/Forward_Prizes_for_Poetry) |First Collection|| {{sho}} |{{Cite web |title=Forward Prize 2014 Shortlist |url=https://exeterpoetryfestival.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/forward.pdf |website=Exeter Poetry}} |} ==Works== * {{cite book |last=Powers |first=Kevin |title=The Yellow Birds: A Novel |title-link=The Yellow Birds |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |year=2012 |isbn=9780316219365 |author-mask=2}} * {{cite book |last=Powers |first=Kevin |title=Letters Composed During a Lull in the Fighting: Poems |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |year=2014 |isbn=9780316401081 |author-mask=2}} * {{cite book |last=Powers |first=Kevin |title=A Shout in the Ruins: A Novel |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |year=2018 |isbn=9780316556477 |author-mask=2}} * {{cite book |last=Powers |first=Kevin |title=A Line in the Sand |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |year=2023 |isbn=9780316507127 |author-mask=2}} ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== * {{Official website|www.kevincpowers.com}} * {{Instagram|id=_kevinpowers}} * [https://www.nationalbook.org/people/kevin-powers/ Profile] at [National Book Foundation](/source/National_Book_Foundation) * {{C-SPAN|66376}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Powers, Kevin}} Category:Living people Category:21st-century American novelists Category:American male novelists Category:Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award winners Category:Military personnel from Richmond, Virginia Category:Writers from Richmond, Virginia Category:1980 births Category:21st-century American male writers Category:Novelists from Virginia Category:Michener Center for Writers alumni Category:Virginia Commonwealth University alumni --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Kevin Powers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Powers) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Powers?action=history)). 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