Kim in December of 1997
Kim Connell was a writer, translator and teacher. He grew up in New York City and in Claryville, New York, a small town in the Catskills, and lived in both places as an adult. Kim had a B.A. from Antioch College and an M.F.A. from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. In the last few years of his life, he taught English at Bronx Community College and at Medgar Evers College, in Brooklyn.
Those are the resume facts. But, what else? Kim, with no previous construction experience, built a shack, then a cabin, and then a house, in the Catskills, with skills learned from books and by trial-and-error, and with himself and his friends providing the labor. He taught fly-fishing, loved the Mets, drove an old clunker that had once been his dad's luxury car, and now had a Woodstock bumper sticker on the back. Kim smoked incessantly, whether he was at an Avenue A bar or hiking on his property upstate. He got a Fulbright to go to Belgium and study Francophone Belgian literature, which resulted in two books. Kim was devoted to his craft as a writer, obsessing about his own work, but supporting his friends in theirs. He had a passion for transgressive fiction, particularly William S. Burroughs and Charles Bukowski. And in December of 1997, Kim died of a heroin overdose. To read more about Kim, go to Reminscences . For more pictures, go to Photo Album
But what this page is mostly about is Kim's work. When he died, he had two books coming out, and he'd most want to be remembered as a writer. To read some excerpts from his work, go to Kim's Writings. For a bibliography of published and forthcoming works, and a description of unpublished major works (two novels), go to Kim Connell Bibliography
Kim wasn't particularly cybersavvy -- in fact, he used a 286 computer and the old Word*Star wordprocessing program right into 1997. But he was starting to get intrigued by the idea of cyberspace and its possibilities. It was important to me that Kim have a memorial page. I don't want this to be a one-person project, though. If you have a reminiscence or photos to contribute, or anything else to add, please contact me at cas47@columbia.edu
Thanks. -- Catherine Siemann