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Kimberly King Parsons on her debut novel, 'We Were the Universe'

Kimberly King Parsons is the author of "We Were the Universe."
Portland Branding Photography
Kimberly King Parsons is the author of "We Were the Universe."

Kimberly King Parsons captured the attention of the literary world in 2019 when her short story collection titled Black Light was longlisted for the National Book Award.

And now she has penned her debut novel, We Were the Universe, which follows a young mother coping with the tragic death of her younger sister.

I recently spoke with Kimberly King Parsons about how this novel was inspired by real life.

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We Were the Universe by Kimberly King Parsons was published by Knopf.

Marginalia was produced at KMUW Wichita and is part of the NPR Podcast Network.

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Beth Golay is KMUW's Director of Marketing and Digital Content. She is the host of the KMUW podcast Marginalia, co-host with Suzanne Perez of the Books & Whatnot podcast, creator of the podcast You're Saying It Wrong, creator of KMUW's daily news podcast Wichita's Early Edition, and NPR StoryLab Workshop team member on the award-winning podcast My Fellow Kansans.