Shawna Kenney is an author, arts journalist and creative writing instructor. Her book Imposters (Mark Batty Publisher) is a hardcover collaboration with photographer Jim Knoblauch, while her memoir I Was a Teenage Dominatrix (Last Gasp) won a Firecracker Alternative Book award, has been translated abroad and was optioned for film. Her work has appeared in Bust, Juxtapoz, Veg News, AP, Ms. Magazine, Mix Mag, Transworld Skateboarding, the Florida Review, the Wilmington Star News (a NY Times publication) and the Indianapolis Star, among others.
Kenney’s personal essays appear in numerous anthologies and she has shared her words at Goucher College, Sarah Lawrence, UCLA, California State University Long Beach, Cal-State Fullerton, University of Maryland, Ladyfest LA, the DIY Convention, Vallekilde School of Communications (Denmark), the Hollywood Public Library, Hustler Hollywood, and on the BBC. She received a BA in Communications from American University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of North Carolina Wilmington.
She currently teaches creative writing in private workshops and online for the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program.
Photograph by Ken Blevins
