Biography
My deepest intention is to wake myself and others into our capacity for collective thriving, a commitment I deem necessary if we are to create an equitable, compassionate, sustainable human existence on this planet.
Teaching Interests & Areas
I am currently teaching a large undergraduate lecture course called "Narratives of Potential," in which we explore what it means, via a wide variety of literary texts, to actualize one's potential as a human being in our current historical-cultural moment. This course draws upon the myriad research and teaching interests that I've been committed to over the years: poetry and poetics, literature, creative writing, literary theory, women's studies, sexuality and gender studies, ecocriticism, veganism, contemplative practice in higher education, pedagogies of liberation, and emergent strategy.
Research Interests & Areas
I am fascinated and compelled by the study of human potential, an avenue of inquiry that is inextricable from and begs consideration of the ecologies of which we're a part. It is impossible to pursue rigorous study of human potential without simultaneously looking at the ways we exist in relationship with non-human animals and the living earth. My current research project draws from a wide range of texts and expressive practices: poetry, theory, literature, philosophy, memoir, photography, drawing, and journals/letters/emails.
Book, Chapter
Zona, K. Drift. Finishing Line Press (2011)
Journal Article
Zona, K. The SRPR Interview: Arielle Greenberg. Spoon River Poetry Review. Spoon River Poetry Association 36.2 (2011)
Zona, K. The SRPR Interview: Austin Smith. Spoon River Poetry Review. Spoon River Poetry Association 36.1 (2011): 56-67.
Zona, K. ’An Attitude of Noticing’: Mary Oliver’s Ecological Ethic. Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and the Environment. Oxford University Press 18.1 (2011): 123-142.
Presentations
Featured Poet with Joanne Diaz. Illinois Wesleyan University’s Annual “Tributaries” Reading.. Illinois Wesleyan University. (2011)
The Contemplative Campus. Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education Annual Conference. ACMHE. (2011)
Workshop Leader and Featured Poet. 7th Annual Roque Bluffs Poetry Festival. (2011)
“Drift and the Rhetoric of Intentionality”. The Contemplative Campus. Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education Annual Conference (ACMHE). (2010)
The Impact of Contemplative Practice on Pedagogy, Scholarship, and Cross-Disciplinary Theory. The Association for Contemplative Mind in Academics Retreat. (2010)
Theorizing Contemplation/Contemplating Theory. The Contemplative Campus. Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education Annual Conference. (2010)
Drift. International Association for Research on Mothering. (2009)
Grants & Contracts
Editor’s Subvention Grant. Illinois State University. Other.
Editor’s Subvention Grant. Illinois State University. Other.
Illinois Arts Council Grant. SRPR.
Illinois Arts Council Grant. SRPR.
Illinois Arts Council Grant. SRPR.
