Former Professional Ballet Dancer Invites Readers to Put Their Best
Feet Forward and Experience Different Sides of Dance!
Fifteen Short Stories That Focus on the Various Meanings of Movement and
How They All Shape Who We Are As Individuals
Step Lightly
By Award-Winning Writer
Kendall Klym
When Kendall Klym’s dad drove him 2 1/2 hours each way, four days a week—back and forth to NYC to study at the New York City Ballet, little did Kendall (or his family) realize that he would not only perform in 8 ballet companies around the country, but morph into a Phd, professor, and award-winning fiction writer. This summer, Dr. Kendall Klym will release his homage to dance with Step Lightly (June 2019; Livingston Press), a vast exploration into the exciting world of dance that both challenges and expands on existing definitions of the subject.
Step Lightly contains fifteen short stories that centers on physical movement as a driving force, placing characters in precarious situations and leading to unusual outcomes. The collection sports a diverse repertory, including a classic yet tragic tribute to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, a dance narrative designed as a multiple-choice quiz, and a recipe incantation that brings back the ghost of a famous ballerina.
Additionally, Step Lightly grapples with the various meanings behind movement, explaining the ways in which they define who we are and what we do with our lives.
Dr. Kendall Klym has won numerous awards for his short stories, which have been published in literary journals including Puerto del Sol, Hunger Mountain, and the Tampa Review. Klym is a three-time honorable mention winner of the Great American Fiction Contest, sponsored by the Saturday Evening Post. Recently, he was awarded a two-month fellowship at the Fairhope Center for the Writing Arts, where he completed the first draft of The Man with an Amber Halo, a novel of grief and redemption based on the sudden death of his partner. A former professional ballet dancer and newspaper journalist, Klym incorporates elements of dance and journalism in his writing. He holds a Ph.D. in English, with a concentration in Fiction Writing, from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and taught creative writing, composition, and literature full time at Kennesaw State University from 2011-18.