Kay Rex Tolchin, Ph.D.

The book doctor will see you now

Kay has been teaching contemporary literature, creative writing, and film at the college level and beyond for a quarter of a century.  She holds a masters and a doctorate in English and American Literature from Brandeis University as well as a bachelor’s from Bryn Mawr College.  These credentials explain both her vast stores of literary knowledge and the occasional nervous tic.  Her first book, Part Blood, Part Ketchup: Coming of Age in American Literature and Film, was cited in William Safire’s New York Times “On Language” column (2007).  Stop Parenting: One Helicopter Mom’s Life-Changing Transformation (2017)  is a hybrid memoir-parenting manual.  Kay’s creative work has appeared in The Rumpus.  In 2015, she won a university-wide award for teaching excellence at Florida Gulf Coast University, her professional home for fifteen years.  In 2019, Kay moved to Boulder, Colorado, where she teaches at the Lighthouse Writers Workshop.  She enjoys savoring the beauty of the Front Range with her son Charlie and their two standard poodles, Nika and Moose. 

Please note: In 2021, Kay legally changed her name from Karen Rebecca Tolchin.

Fierce Support For The Written Word

Kay Rex Tolchin, Ph.D. Curriculum Vitae

 

Education

  • Ph.D. May 2000: English and American Literature Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts

  • M.A. May 1998: English and American Literature Brandeis University

  • B.A. May 1992: English, cum laude Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania

Notable Positions

  • Faculty Member 2019 – present. Lighthouse Writers Workshop, Louisville, Colorado.

  • Associate Professor of English 2007 – 2019. Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, Florida.

Notable Publications

Primary Interests

  • The Memoir, The Contemporary Short Story, & Film Adaptation