Kimberly Garza, Ph.D.

The Pearl LeWinn Endowed Chair in Creative Writing

Associate Professor, English

Director, Creative Writing Program

Kimberly Garza is a writer of fiction and nonfiction. Her critically acclaimed debut novel, ​The Last Karankawas, is set in Galveston, Texas, and follows a community of Mexican and Filipino American families just before the arrival of Hurricane Ike (Henry Holt & Company). The novel was selected as a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice in 2022.

Garza’s stories and essays have been published in places like Copper Nickel, Puerto del Sol, ​DIAGRAM, ​TriQuarterly, ​Creative Nonfiction,​ Huizache​, Cutbank​, and ​Bennington Review​. “We Were Known For Our Rivers,” her essay about her hometown of Uvalde, was published in 2023 in Texas Highways and earned recognition from Nieman Storyboard and the International Regional Media Association essay awards. In addition, her 2018 essay “The Queen Signal” was published by Creative Nonfiction and nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Garza’s writing has been supported by a National Endowment of the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship (2024) and scholarships from the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers Conference and the Michener Center for Writers.

A native Texan, Garza is active in the San Antonio and Texas literary community and frequently collaborates with Gemini Ink, the San Antonio Book Festival, Verso Frontera, and the Writer’s League of Texas. She serves as associate fiction editor for ​The Boiler​ and has worked at literary journals including ​Bat City Review​ and ​American Literary Review​. 

At UTSA, Garza serves as director of the Creative Writing Program, where she is also a core faculty member. Her research and teaching interests include creative writing, Latinx and ethnic studies—specifically Mexican American and Texas literature—and regional/place-based studies.

She has chaired or been a member of several thesis and dissertation committees and is the faculty advisor for the Sagebrush Review, UTSA’s student-run literature, art, and photography journal.

Garza earned her Ph.D. in English-Creative Writing, specializing in fiction and Mexican American literature, from the University of North Texas. She holds a B.A. in English and Spanish and an M.A. in English-Creative Writing from the University of Texas at Austin.