Karl Kirchwey (born February 25, 1956) is an American poet, essayist, translator, critic, teacher, arts administrator, and literary curator.

[3] His family moved frequently during his childhood, including periods in Massachusetts, California, Connecticut, Quebec (Canada), London (U.K.) and Lausanne (Switzerland).

[3] From the beginning, Kirchwey's work has been distinguished by its geographical and temporal range, with settings in Europe and North America, both in the worlds of ancient Greece and Rome and of the contemporary United States.

[7] His fifth book, The Happiness of This World: Poetry and Prose (2007) resulted from a trip to Saipan (Northern Marianas Islands), Cambodia, and India, and included an extended hybrid essay in poetry and prose entitled “A Yatra for Yama.” A second book of Roman poems, Stumbling Blocks, followed in 2017.

This book took its title from the Holocaust memorial art project by German artist Gunter Demnig.

[2] Several of a set of linked hybrid essays (memoir, poetry, history, family correspondence) concerning ambiguous loss and the legacy of World War II have appeared or are forthcoming in Arion, AGNI, The American Scholar, and Raritan.

He has also written a verse drama entitled Airedales & Cipher, an adaptation of the Alcestis of Euripides.