Gunilla Theander Kester, Ph.D 


FULBRIGHT SCHOLAR, POET, AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR, CLASSICAL GUITARIST

Gunilla Theander Kester is the author and co-author of seven books, including her most recent collection of poems: Hold Me Still. Other published works include a scholarly study, two poetry chapbooks, one full length poetry collection, and two collections dedicated to the victims of Flight 3407.

Current projects include contributions to Consequence Forum, a growing collection of poetry, and a memoir entitled “Streetness Speaks.”

Main Street Rag Publishing Company is publishing my new book, Hold Me Still, September, 2026.
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August 19, 2026

  • “Seaweed Poetics” has been published by Perceptions, Mt. Hood Community College's magazine of the arts.

  • My poem “By Eden’s Gate” has been accepted by The MacGuffin, a national literary journal produced at Schoolcraft College.

  • OfTheBook has accepted two poems: “Threw My Jacket” and “Story of a Painting”.

  • FOLIO Literary Journal has published my poem “The Secret of Night”.

  • The Apple Valley Review, a Journal of Contemporary Literature, has accepted my poem, “I Learned to Drink while Doing the Dishes”.

  • J Journal, new writing on justice, has published my poem “Autumn Shapes I-V” in its current Spring issue.

Horror and Rhetoric: The Poetry of Wilfred Owen

Wilfred Owen was killed in World War I, one week before Armistice (November 11, 1918), at the age of twenty-five. By the time he died, he had published a mere five poems. Still, we remember him. We remember his voice, his imagery, his poetic style, his passion and compassion. No other poet captured the horror of the trenches and the poisonous gas as vividly as he did. No other poet captured the pity and the waste of so many young men who came home wounded in body and mind. Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) wrote down what he witnessed and experienced on the battlefield. His was an honest and authentic voice, but also a voice steeped in the rhetoric of pre-war Georgian poets who wrote mainly about the beauty of nature in gorgeous sweet cadences. Perhaps, the power of Owen’s voice stems from this tension between the naked horror of what he describes and the rich rhetoric he uses to capture the consequences of war. Owen famously wrote: “All the poet can do today is warn. That is why true Poets must be truthful.” As readers, we hear the conflict of a young man who still believes in the “true Poet” and who can, in spite of everything, remain “truthful.”
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Current & Upcoming

Abridged, Abstract, After Happy Hour, Apple Valley Review, Artemis Journal,Atlanta Review, ballast journal, Book of Matches,Call Me [Brackets] University of Alabama Creative Writing, Cider Press Review, Concho River Review, Consequence, The Deronda Review, Doubly Mad Journal,FOLIO,Glint Literary Journal, Great Lakes Review, Hot Pot Magazine, I-70 Review, J Journal, Kestrel, Main Street Rag Publishing Company, Narrative Northeast, Naugatuck River Review, Neologism Poetry Journal, New Millennium Writings, Nixes Mate Review,‍ ‍Oberon Poetry, Ocean State Review, October Hill Magazine, OfTheBook, On the Seawall, Packingtown Review Journal, Pangyrus, Paterson Literary Review, Pendemics Journal, Perceptions Magazine, Pine Hills Review, Pirene’s Fountain, Plainsongs, Potomac Review,Redactions, Saranac Review, San Pedro River Review, Silk Road Review, Silkworm, Slant, Slipstream, Solstice Literary Magazine, South Florida Poetry Journal, Stone Poetry Quarterly, SWWIM, The American Journal of Poetry,‍ The Beacon,The Citron Review, The Deronda Review,The Inquisitive Eater, The MacGuffin, The Worchester Review, Third Street Review, Tikkun, Trampoline, Viridine Literary, West Trestle Review and Whale Road Review.

Nominated two times for the Pushcart Prize and once for Best of the Net.

Buffalo Corner Reading Series

Links to Livestream via Boxcast, Facebook and YouTube at www.shirshalom.org

Gunilla Kester and Mir Ali perform Yad Kiya Dil Ne

A woman with glasses and short blonde hair playing an acoustic guitar while sitting on a chair in a room with a piano in the background. She is barefoot, with her foot in a footrest and her other foot resting on the floor. There is a vase with dried
Gunilla playing an acoustic guitar.
Cover of The American Journal of Poetry, Volume 12, featuring an embellished funerary or ceremonial figure with jewelry and ornaments, with flags of the United States and text indicating a farewell tribute, dated January 1, 2022.
A collection of poetry books and magazines laid out on a blue patterned tablecloth, including titles such as 'OBERON', 'Queen City Flash', 'Poetry 2008', and 'Poetic Voices Without Borders 2'.
Woman with glasses playing an acoustic guitar in front of a brick wall and surrounded by plants.
People browsing books in a well-lit bookstore or library with large windows and wooden shelves.
Two women smiling, one with curly hair and glasses, the other with straight hair and glasses, standing indoors with a guitar partially visible on the right.
Three musicians sitting and playing acoustic guitars on stage during a concert, with other musicians and guitars in the background.
A woman and a boy smiling and posing for a photo indoors, with a wall containing gold name plates in the background.
Local Poet Reading with Heather Nelson & Gunilla Kester (1).pdf-2.jpg
A watercolor painting of a hybrid creature with a deer's head and a dragon's body, sitting on a rock with a blue-green tail. The creature's antlers resemble a tree with red, orange, and yellow leaves, and there are colorful shells and a purple tail o
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Cover of Nixes Mate Review magazine, Issue 23, Spring 2022, featuring black-and-white photo of grain silos against cloudy sky.
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