Kaitlyn Airy is a Korean American poet and essayist.
Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, she was raised in the San Juan Archipelago off the coast of Washington State. In Spring 2020, her poem “Demilitarized Zone” was selected by Elizabeth Austen as the winner of the Phyllis L. Ennes Contest, sponsored by the Skagit River Poetry Foundation. In 2022 Narrative Magazine named her one of their 30 Below 30. Her recent work has been featured or is forthcoming in FENCE, Crab Creek Review, Poets.org, Moss, Post Road, Poetry Northwest, and Narrative Magazine. She received an MFA in poetry from the University of Virginia, where she currently teaches as a Research Associate and Lecturer. She also serves as an Associate Editor for Poetry Northwest. In her spare time she enjoys consulting the oracle, tracking down patches of ghostpipes, and experimenting with fermentation.
Portrait by Hazel Miller