Shir Kehila is a writer and translator living on Mount Desert Island, Maine. A graduate of Columbia’s MFA program, she received support from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the McCormack Writing Center (formerly Tin House,) and the Monson Arts Residency.
Selected Writing
Essays
Fall Springs, Thinning Light (12 Willows Press, print, forthcoming) | on seasons, scales, and the “upside down”
Haunting Grounds, Solstice | on possession, inheritance, and “female texts”
Chiaroscuro, Here for all the Reasons (Turner Publishing, print) | on The Bachelorette as a negative image, and reflection, of an interabled relationship
The Way, COA Magazine | on the 25th anniversary of the Davis UWC Scholarship program
Cycles, Indiana Review (vol. 47, n. 3, print) | on immigration, unauthorized work, domestic labor, and scams
Patchwork, Echoes in the Fog (12 Willows Press, print) | on caretaking, pet-sitting, and the housing crisis
Echo Chamber, Michigan Quarterly Review | on AI agents, Dobbs, and the Oscar-winning short, I’m Not a Robot
To Be(long) or Not to Be, Majuscule | on advertising tactics, the subscription economy, and Substack
10am at the Bass Harbor Memorial Library, Off Assignment | on second bodies and climate change
Severed Ties, Harpur Palate | on friendship in the aftermath of tragedy (Winner of the 2025 Creative Nonfiction award)
Fountain, 45th Parallel (issue 10, print) | on time, “the grammar of the world,” and translation
Poems
Aliens Somewhere, Switch Tracks, and Lost Subject, Universe, Vast Universe (Pink Eraser Press, print, forthcoming)
Colony, Deep Water Series, Maine Sunday Telegram
Language Lesson, Poems from Here, Maine Public Radio
Translation
How to Find You, by Omer Waldman, Prooftexts (issue 42, print) | On an uncollected poem by Avot Yeshurun