Kerry Shawn Keys comes from the Susquehanna Valley of Central Pennsylvania in the United States. He lives in Vilnius, Lithuania where he taught translation theory and creative composition from 1998 to 2000 as a Fulbright lecturer at Vilnius University. He currently works freelance as a poet, editor, translator, and cultural liaison. He has over forty books to his credit, including translations from Portuguese, Czech, and Lithuanian, and his own poems rooted in the Appalachia hill country, and in Brazil and India where he lived for considerable time. His work ranges from theatre-dance pieces to flamenco songs to meditations on the Tao Te Ching, and is often lyrical with intense ontological concerns. Recently, he has been writing short prose tales and action fiction. His readings are memorable, and he often performs with the free jazz percussionist, Vladimir Tarasov. His most recent books are Conversations With Tertium Quid and Blue Rose Fusion. Among many other literary prizes, Keys received the Robert H. Winner Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America in 1992, and, in 2005, a National Endowment For The Arts Literature Fellowship. He also received the Translation Laureate Award from the Lithuanian Writers Union in 2003. He is a member of the Lithuanian Writers Union and PEN. Selected poems have appeared in Czech and Lithuanian.
audio recording of Kerry Keys reading in Vilnius (2005):