Work samples

  • Piano in The New Yorker
    "Piano" in The New Yorker
    "Piano" in The New Yorker
  • "Night Heron" recording for Brooklyn Poets
  • The Slowdown w/ U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith: Episode 23
    Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith introducing and reading my poem "My Father at 49, Working the Night Shift at B&R Diesel" for her podcast The Slowdown.
  • Edgar Kunz reads "Salvage"
    Me reading my poem "Salvage" for a project called Ours Poetica, a collaboration between John Green (author of The Fault in our Stars, etc.) and The Poetry Foundation.

About Edgar

Baltimore City

Edgar Kunz is the author of two poetry collections: Fixer (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2023), a New York Times Editors' Choice Book, and Tap Out (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2019), which the Washington Post called "a gritty, insightful debut." His poems and… more

Fixer

I have a new poetry collection called Fixer (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2023), a shape-shifty book that starts as an examination of work and labor in late-capitalist America: the gig economy, squatters, conspiracy theories, the impending robot rebellion. Then it turns to the eponymous long poem, a series of "long sonnets" that deal with the aftermath of the father’s death in poems that are both devastating and darkly funny, and center on the relationship between three brothers. Then the book resolves into a series of complex love poems that point to possible hopeful futures. Poems from the book appear in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Oxford American, Poetry, American Poetry Review, and Yale Review. 

It got a full-page review in the New York Times-- they call the book "Haunting" and say "Reading Fixer, you can’t help thinking of Raymond Carver and the way that his blue-collar, stripped-to-the-bone style served as a corrective in the 1980s." It was also positively reviewed in the Washington Post ("An arresting vision buoyed by Kunz's wry wit"), Booklist ("Stunningly beautiful...Unsparing yet buoyant"), and Publishers Weekly ("Stunning and lyrical...Kunz has written a beautiful book").

  • Fixer (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2023)
    Fixer (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2023)
  • Piano in The New Yorker
    "Piano" in The New Yorker

    "Piano" in the New Yorker

  • from 'Fixer' in Poetry Magazine
    "from 'Fixer'" in Poetry Magazine
    "from 'Fixer'" in Poetry Magazine
  • Therapy (1 of 2), first published in The New Yorker
    Therapy (1 of 2), first published in The New Yorker
  • Therapy (2 of 2), first published in The New Yorker
    Therapy (2 of 2), first published in The New Yorker
  • Night Heron (1 of 4), first published in American Poetry Review
    Night Heron (1 of 4), first published in American Poetry Review
  • Night Heron (2 of 4), first published in American Poetry Review
    Night Heron (2 of 4), first published in American Poetry Review
  • Night Heron (3 of 4), first published in American Poetry Review
    Night Heron (3 of 4), first published in American Poetry Review
  • Night Heron (4 of 4), first published in American Poetry Review
    Night Heron (4 of 4), first published in American Poetry Review
  • Fixer (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2023) Full Text

Tap Out

Here's my first book, Tap Out, published by Ecco/HarperCollins in 2019. The New York Times named it a "New & Noteworthy" book and The Washington Post said it was "a gritty and insightful debut." It's a collection of poems about growing up in working poor New England. It's also about escape, inheritance, California, bitcoin, various dumb jobs, and the anxieties of class mobility.  The writing of the book was supported by fellowships from Stanford University and the NEA, and it won a few awards including the Julia Ward Howe Prize.

Individual poems were published in places like Ploughshares, New England Review, Sewanee Review, AGNI, and Gulf Coast, and reprinted in places like Best New Poets 2015 (ed. U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith), Best New Poets 2017 (ed. Natalie Diaz), NEA Writers' Corner, Poetry Daily, and The Millions

The book has also been translated into Italian and published by Fuorolinea (Rome, IT).  And they translated an essay I wrote for LitHub and published it as an afterword. Che bello!

  • Tap Out (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2019) Cover
    Tap Out (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2019) Cover
  • After the Hurricane
    After the Hurricane
  • Brothers
    Brothers
  • My Father at 49, Working the Night Shift at B&R Diesel
    My Father at 49, Working the Night Shift at B&R Diesel
  • Interim (1/3)
    Interim (1/3)
  • Interim (2/3)
    Interim (2/3)
  • Interim (3/3)
    Interim (3/3)
  • Salvage
    Salvage
  • Tap Out (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2019) Full Text

Uncollected Essays

I've started to write essays loosely about the craft of writing poems. I'm averaging one essay per book of poetry I write, so I'm not exactly setting any records! I am proud of them though-- they're a stretch for me artistically and they're a good representation of my thinking. The first, called "Hand Over Hand", is about poetry's relationship to lying. The second, called "Unspendable Currency", is about how late-capitalist hustle culture intersects with making poems, and how the internalized tenets of industrial capitalism are a danger to the art.

  • Unspendable Currency

    "Unspendable Currency" by Edgar Kunz

  • Hand Over Hand

    "Hand Over Hand" by Edgar Kunz

Reviews + Press

Here's a selection of reviews and press Fixer and Tap Out have received from publications like The New York Times, The Washington Post, Booklist, Publishers Weekly, and others. 

  • "What Work Is" -- New York Times review of FIXER
  • FIXER named a New York Times Editors' Choice book
    FIXER named a New York Times Editors' Choice book
  • Electric Literature names FIXER a Best Poetry Collection of 2023
    Electric Literature names FIXER a Best Poetry Collection of 2023
  • Publishers Weekly review of FIXER
  • Booklist review of FIXER
  • TAP OUT named New York Times New & Noteworthy book
  • The Washington Post features TAP OUT
  • Publishers Weekly starred review of TAP OUT
  • On The Seawall reviews TAP OUT

Interviews

Here's a selection of interviews I've given for print and online publications like Poets & WritersThe Rumpus, and Los Angeles Review of Books, and for podcasts with Literary Hub and The Library of Congress. 

  • Interview alongside Megan Fernandes for Los Angeles Review of Books
  • Podcast interview for Literary Hub
  • Interview about FIXER for The Rumpus
  • Ten Questions Feature with Poets & Writers
  • Podcast interview for The Library of Congress with Maryland Poet Laureate Grace Cavalieri
    Podcast interview for The Library of Congress with Maryland Poet Laureate Grace Cavalieri
  • Interview about finishing TAP OUT and starting FIXER with Harpur Palate
  • Interview about TAP OUT with Adroit Journal
  • Interview about TAP OUT with Sewanee Review

Tour Posters

I've given over a hundred readings/talks/book signings in the U.S. and Europe, from Baltimore to San Francisco to Reykjavik to Paris. Here are posters -- most made by me, a few made by the press -- to get the word out about some of these events.

  • FIXER Winter 2024 Tour Poster
    FIXER Winter 2024 Tour Poster
  • FIXER Additional Dates (October)
    FIXER Additional Dates (October)
  • FIXER North American Tour
    FIXER North American Tour
  • FIXER North American Tour cont.
    FIXER North American Tour cont.
  • FIXER European Tour Poster
    FIXER European Tour Poster
  • TAP OUT Winter/Spring 2020 Tour Poster
    TAP OUT Winter/Spring 2020 Tour Poster
  • TAP OUT Fall 2019 Tour Poster
    TAP OUT Fall 2019 Tour Poster
  • TAP OUT Spring 2019 Tour Poster cont.
    TAP OUT Spring 2019 Tour Poster cont.
  • TAP OUT Spring 2019 Tour Poster
    TAP OUT Spring 2019 Tour Poster