Bennett Fellow Reads Work

Gazing across the assembled faculty and students, 2018-19 George Bennett Fellow Gwen Kirby tucked a lock of pink hair behind her ear and began reading her short story, titled “A Few Normal Things That Happen A Lot.” This was her third appearance before the student body after delivering an assembly and a meditation in winter term. 

The George Bennett Fellowship, chaired by English Instructor Todd Hearon, honors emeritus Academy English Instructor George Bennett by awarding a one-year fellowship to an author of outstanding promise who has not yet published a book. The fellowship seeks to provide time and freedom for the fellow by allocating a stipend, housing, meals and benefits for a full academic year.

From a pool of more than 300 applicants, the committee selected Kirby, a writer, editor and teacher from San Diego. In addition to the Bennett fellowship, Kirby has accumulated numerous awards including publishment in Guernica, the Mississippi Review and the Southwest Review, among others. 

Hearon described how fortunate the Exeter community is to have Kirby in its midst. “It is a gift of value and generosity of which cannot be overstated to have Gwen near the beginning of her career, and it’s a gift to the broader Exeter community to have a full time working wordsmith in our midst,” he said.

At the final Bennett reading of the year, Kirby read a story inspired by her anger from the Brett Kavanaugh hearings.  “I had an agreement with a friend with 500 new words a day, every day and when I listened to the hearings, I was pretty upset, and my friend said [I didn’t] have to write anything today,” she said. “I was like, damn the man, yes I do.”

“A Few Normal Things That Happen A Lot” explored forms of gendered harassment that are normalized every day and reimagined them in surprising ways. “[It asked] us to rethink our own experiences and try to imagine the experiences of others,” English Instructor Chelsea Woodard said. 

Attendees, like senior Jadzia Tedeschi, praised Kirby’s story. “While Gwen Kirby did a great job of portraying women’s ‘badass’ self-defense against men who molested them/disrespected them, it was also very thoughtful to include how it would be nice not to have to be hard and scaly and monstrous to be respected—how effectively biting people’s parts off is hardly a reconciliatory act, a protection but also another sort of wound,” she said.

Kirby’s story made a complex topic simpler to put a finger on, Senior Ingrid Bergill said. “She’s taking inspiration from very serious things and finding ways to make them funny without making light of them,” Bergill said. “She’s still giving them the respect they deserve, but also finding ways to make them easier to understand and talk about.”

Woodard believes that Kirby is a writer worth hearing twice. “Her story was sharp, funny and moving, and she read it beautifully and with just the right amount of humor,” she said. “Gwen is a friend and an incredible writer; I wouldn’t miss an opportunity to hear her read her work.”

Kirby reflected on the topic of feminism, one she often comes back to. In future works, she is prepared to defend her ideals. “I hope that someday I will publish your work in that book and my work will go into the wider world,” she said. 

“I’d imagine people will dislike it for its content to a certain degree, and I fear that I will be regarded as someone who writes only for women, which is one of the things that I find it very distressing. However, I will challenge the way that we talk about literature, which is that the male protagonist is the universal protagonist and the female protagonists for women. I intend to get feisty at Q&A [sessions,]” Kirby continued.

Tedeschi reflected upon the importance of the Bennett Fellowship on the Exeter campus. “I feel like having full-time professional artists working amongst us is pretty extraordinary,” she said. “We may not engage with our Bennett Fellow on a daily basis, but I think it is important for them to be a part of our community, for it to be a fuller, more layered community: the teacher, the cleaner, the computer worker, the student, the advisor, the administrator, the Bennett Fellow are what make Exeter a community, not just a school.”