Kim Trevathan lives in Maryville, Tennessee and teaches creative writing, journalism, and literature at Maryville College. His second book, Coldhearted River: A Canoe Odyssey Down the Cumberland, was published by the University of Tennessee Press in May 2006. It tells the story of his 700-mile trip from Harlan, Kentucky, through Nashville, to the Ohio River in Western Kentucky. Photographer Randy Russell accompanied him in the bow of the canoe and received much criticism from the stern concerning his paddling technique and his off-key singing of “today’s country” songs. His photographs, however, were excellent. Kim’s first book, Paddling the Tennessee River: A Voyage on Easy Water, was published by UT Press in 2001. It recounts another ill-advised canoe trip, this one down a 652-mile river whose current had been stilled by TVA’s nine dams, resulting in canoe-unfriendly lakes turbulent with the wakes of cabin cruisers, jet skis, and supercharged bass boats. He took along his unsuspecting but loyal dog, Jasper, for company and protection. Kim’s wife, Julie, is a veterinarian. They were both born and raised in Murray, Kentucky, where the sale of alcohol was recently legalized. Kim has published fiction in New Millennium Writings (winner of the Spring 1999 contest), the Texas Review, New Delta Review, the Distillery, and the anthology, Walking on Water and Other Stories (in which his was the title story). He has published essays in The Distillery, The Florida Review, the KWG anothology Migrants and Stowaways, Nine: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture, and Under the Sun. While toiling in the corporate world for iPIX (in Oak Ridge) Kim wrote and produced CD-ROMs and Web sites using that company’s 360-degree photography, so. His credits there include “A Walking Tour of the National Mall,” a Web feature for travelchannel.com; “Knoxville-Oak Ridge Region,” a Web site for Bechtel Jacobs Development Company; "San Francisco: Jewel of the Golden State," a travel guide CD-ROM; "A Walk in the Footsteps of Jesus," a CD-ROM; and a bunch of demos and PR and marketing stuff he wishes he could forget. Kim spent much of his younger years traveling from university to university to see the country and avoid getting a real job. He has a masters degree in English from the University of Illinois; a masters in journalism from the University of Wyoming; and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Alabama, where former KWG board member Allen Wier taught him. He taught literature and writing at the above universities, and has also taught at Murray State University and a couple of community colleges. He did one term as secretary on the Knoxville Writers' Guild Board. When he’s not
writing or teaching, Kim likes to canoe, hike, play tennis, and
nap. |
