Photo by Brad Kuhn
Darlyn Finch Kuhn is that rare animal: a Florida native. Born and raised in Jacksonville, she attended Ed White high school before obtaining her Associate of Arts degree at Florida Junior College (now FSCJ). She holds a bachelors degree as an English major, Writing minor from Rollins College in Winter Park. Darlyn graduated in 2009 with a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Nonfiction/Poetry from Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky. By day, Darlyn works as President/COO at Brad Kuhn & Associates, LLC.
She is the proud mother of a daughter, Rachel Shannon Finch-Bates, who earned a bachelor of science degree in physics at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg. Her step-daughter, Sandra Meschelle Kuhn, recently graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in Women’s Studies.
A poet known for her saucy style and engaging readings, Darlyn is also a gifted storyteller. Her work has appeared in literary journals, newspapers, and online. Her poems have been featured on Poetic Logic on WMFE-FM, and been read by Garrison Keillor on the Writers Almanac. She was interviewed on World Radio Paris. She has been a repeat winner of the Mt. Dora Festival of Art and Literature, Cultural Liaison for the Society of American Travel Writers Institute, and the eponymous “Scribbler,” of the Scribbles lit-newsletter.
From December 2006 through February 2007, she was the 19th Kerouac Project writer in residence, living and working in the house where Jack Kerouac wrote Dharma Bums and learned that On the Road was about to be published. She was interviewed at the Kerouac house by Bob Kealing. You can view her final Kerouac House reading here.
She has worked in the Sports Department of the Orlando Sentinel, and has also published articles in the Florida Times Union/Jacksonville Journal and the Sandspur. She has been a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and the National League of American Pen Women.
Her first book, Red Wax Rose, a poetry and short story collection, was published by Shady Lane Press in February, 2007. Her second, Three Houses, a collection of love poems with collaborator Brad Kuhn, she published through Scribbles in February, 2008. Darlyn and Brad were married in 2011. Darlyn’s debut novel, Sewing Holes, was published by Twisted Road Publications in March, 2015. In October, 2015, Sewing Holes won First Place in the Royal Palm Literary Awards (Novella Category.)
In a 2017 interview by the Author Learning Center, Darlyn talked about her great experience with Twisted Road Publications, a small independent publisher in Tallahassee, Florida.
Since moving to Jacksonville in 2017, Darlyn and Brad have developed the Southeast Sister Cities Reading Tour (introducing Jacksonville writers to other Florida cities, and hosting those cities’ writers in Jacksonville), The River of Grass Writing Experience (workshops designed to help writers create and refine their work), and Third Thursdays Open Mic at the House of Leaf and Bean. They served as venue/writer liaisons/Co-Directors for the JaxbyJax Literary Arts Festival, from 2018-2023.
