About Alison

2018-01-13 16.04.48Alison Kinney (she/her) is an author, teacher, and nonfiction writer on culture, history, music, and social justice. 

Alison’s second book, AVIDLY READS OPERA, was published by NYU Press in 2021.

“When making a solo trip to the opera, most everyone who wasn’t raised on the art faces this question: ‘Do I really belong here?’ Alison Kinney says ‘yes,’ and invites you to ride along with her: to performances at Wagner’s theater, and also, less conventionally, at a prison. She’s insightful and entertaining, but not merely good company. Her larger conversation with the tradition―regarding its pleasures and its problems―should excite anyone eager to see opera with new eyes.” ― Seth Colter Walls, New York Times contributing music critic

Alison’s first book of cultural history, HOOD, was published by Bloomsbury’s “Object Lessons” series in 2016. She’s written online and/or in print for The New Yorker, The Paris Review Daily, Lapham’s Quarterly, Longreads, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Atlantic, Harper’s Magazine, L.A. Review of Books and Avidly, VAN Magazine, Gay Magazine, The Believer, New Republic, The New Inquiry, Hyperallergic, LitHub, and other publications. Five of her essays have been named Notable Essays in The Best American Essays, from 2016 through 2020.

Alison has taught nonfiction writing at The New School and at Catapult and is now Assistant Professor of Writing at Eugene Lang College at The New School. She earned a New School MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction), then headed in a completely different direction!


Media, Interviews, and Chat
(for media about my writing, see individual works’ pages):
• “This Is 47-ish,” The Questionnaire at Oldster Magazine
• Interview at Music Journalism Insider
• Chatting with the podcast The Spouter-Inn; or, A Conversation with Great Books on “Reading During Crisis, Part Two,” at Megafonic, July 2020
• Chatting with Catherine Lindsey at 12th St on “Model Literary Citizenship,” March 2020
• Introduction to Taylor Murch’s “The Haunted Atheist,” Slice MagazineSeptember 2019
• “Alison Kinney Encourages You to Write at the Grocery Store,” Electric Lit, May 2019
• Check out my old books blog, The City of This Lady, for discussion of some favorite reads.
• Stay tuned for events and readings for AVIDLY READS OPERA!