Kristin Dykstra Distinguished Scholar in Residence & Director of First Year Seminar

Kristin Dykstra

Programs

Ph.D. SUNY at Buffalo
M.A., SUNY at Buffalo
B.A. Amherst College

Areas of Expertise:

Literatures and Cultures of the United States, US Latino/a Literatures, Transnational Exchange in the Americas, Cuban literature, Literary Translation, and American Studies

Courses I Teach:

  • First Year Seminar (as Place and Placelessness)
  • American Studies 227: Foundations of US Latinx Literatures & Cultures
  • Junior Seminar: Land, Sea, Sky (Chile focus)
  • Junior Seminar: A Nation Inside and Out (Cuba focus)
  • Honors Colloquium

Research

Kristin Dykstra writes about people, places, and culture. Much of her research is interdisciplinary. Some publications are scholarly, while others are works of creative writing or literary translation.

Dykstra’s chapter on Cuba’s lyric imaginary, 1959-1989, appears in the Cambridge History of Cuban Literature (2024). Her previous scholarly chapters featured Soleida Ríos, Daniel Borzutzky, and others. She is currently finishing a chapter, “Elemental Mind Salt,” for a book forthcoming in the Under Discussion Series from the U of Michigan Press.

Dykstra’s first full-length book of poetry, Dissonance (2025), won the Phoenix Emerging Poets Prize from the University of Chicago Press.

Dykstra has translated literary works by numerous authors, often writing critical introductions to pair with the creative material. Her most recent bilingual editions include The Star-Spangled Brand, by Marcelo Morales; Jigs and Lures, by Reina María Rodríguez; The Lady of Elche, by Amanda Berenguer; and 13 Moons 13, by Vermont-based writer Tina Escaja. Dykstra is principal translator of a book by Rodríguez, The Winter Garden Photograph, Winner of the 2020 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation and Finalist for the National Translation Award. Among other recognitions, Dykstra held a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Literary Translation.

While teaching in the Department of English at Illinois State University (2002-2014), where she entered as an Assistant Professor and left as Full Professor, Dykstra won the 2007-8 Dean’s Award for Outstanding Scholarly Achievement and a 2005-6 College of Arts and Sciences Teaching Initiative Award.

Awards + Recognition

  • Phoenix Emerging Poets Prize, from The University of Chicago Press
  • 2023 Gold Medal, Best Nonfiction Book Translation (Spanish to English), International Latino Book Awards. For the translation of 13 Moons 13 / 13 lunas 13, by Tina Escaja
  • Winner, 2020 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation.
  • 2014 Gulf Coast Prize in Translation.
  • Finalist, 2020 National Translation Award, American Literary Translators’ Association
  • National Endowment for the Arts: Literary Translation Fellow, 2012. For the translation of Catch and Release, by Reina María Rodríguez.
  • Banff Centre (Alberta, Canada), Self-Directed Literary Arts Residency, Translation. September 2009.
  • Dean’s Award for Outstanding Scholarly Achievement. Illinois State University, College of Arts and Sciences. 2007-8.
  • Teaching Initiative Award, College of Arts and Sciences. Illinois State University. 2005-6.
  • Longlist, 2017 National Translation Award, American Literary Translators’ Association