CD Collins
CD Collins is author of the novel Afterheat and the poetry collection Self-Portrait with Severed Head. She has published short fiction in numerous literary magazines, including StoryQuarterly, The Pennsylvania Review, Salamander, and Phoebe. One of the originators of the early 1990s resurgence of spoken word with live music, Collins has produced five award-winning albums and appeared in venues such as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Berklee College of Music Performance Hall, and New York Public Library.
Featured Book
Blue Land
CD Collins’s debut short story collection invites readers into a world shaped by the smell of tobacco leaves, the sweat of factory work, and the rush of rumors moving through a small town. Blue Land offers twenty stories interwoven with complicated characters who struggle with loved ones, the dangers of longing, and the lure of addiction. This collection is a haunting work of Kentucky literature that probes southern and Appalachian life, sexual abuse, the nature of belonging, queer identity, and the environment.
Meet CD Collins and get a copy of their book at the 2026 Kentucky Book Festival, Saturday, November 7, 2026, at Joseph-Beth Booksellers.