Faculty Profiles

Colleges and Departments

Professor Kale Hensley

  • Asst Professor of Instruction - English
Portrait of Professor Kale Hensley

Biography and expertise

Kale Hensley is a poet and visual artist from West Virginia, now a born-again Texan. Their writing, rooted in queer mysticism, dissent, and a love of southern gothic, has appeared in Gulf Coast, Booth, Evergreen Review, Sonora Review, Epiphany, and other journals, with several nominations for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. They are the recipient of the 2026 Elmer Kelton Prize for Poetry and the winner of the 2026 Clarion Poetry Prize.

Education:
BA West Virginia University, English & Religious Studies
MFA Texas State University, Poetry

Education

Master's Degree

MFA in Creative Writing

Texas State University, 2023

Bachelor's Degree

BA in English

West Virginia University, 2018

Research Interests

  • Hensley, K. L. (2025, June). The Gentle Art of Leeching. Gulf Coast.
  • Hensley, K. L. (2025, January). The Works of Flesh Are Manifest. Booth.
  • Hensley, K. L. (2024, December). Creation Myth: Phyllis Rides Aristotle. Evergreen Review.
  • Hensley, K. L. (2024, July). A Bed Built on Wheels. So to Speak: A Journal of Feminist Art and Language.
  • Hensley, K. L. (2024, April). Christina Beyond the Curtain. Image.
View all scholarly/creative works
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Clarion Poetry Prize, Sabr Tooth Tiger Magazine. April 2026
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Elmer Kelton Prize for Poetry, Angelo State University. February 2026
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Semi-Finalist: Bennett Nieberg Transpoetic Broadside Prize, Gasher Press. September 2025
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Semi-Finalist: Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize, Persea Books. 2026
  • Award / Honor Nominee: Best of the Net: Poetry, electric pink magazine. 2026
View all awards
  1. Other

    Pictura Journal

  2. Other

    Creative Writers Circle

  3. Chair

    "Writing the Self: Fiction, Memoir, and Autoethnography," Honors College Undergraduate Research Conference

  4. Other

    Indirect Books

  5. Other

    Cats' Poets Society

  6. Other

    Round Top Poetry Festival