Courtney Kampa, an award-winning novelist and poet passed away abruptly this weekend. Will Anderson, her husband, confirmed the news on Tuesday, November 15. Kampa was a Nashville native who lived with her husband and two dogs, Eddie and Georgie. She was a writing and poetry instructor in Nashville. There were baseless allegations of her death in a car accident, but the world didn’t find out until Anderson confirmed the reports.
“She was always my ideal girl,” says Courtney Kampa’s husband.
Wil Anderson, a musician, announced his wife’s death on his Instagram account @willyj1234, but he did not specify the reason. The post included a picture of the couple, who were dressed in similar gray sweatshirts. Anderson revealed the news to his 327,000 followers in a heartfelt comment, in memory of Courtney Kampa for being brilliant, humorous and kind. He closed the text by declaring his love for her.
Kampa’s death is said to have been caused by a terrible car accident that killed another person. Fellow writer and writer Elizabeth Foss expressed her grief over the deaths of Kampa and Irene Starrs in a Facebook post.
She stated:
“Grief on top of grief. And the pain remains unspoken. Since I can’t make sense of it, this is a nonsensical post. Please pray for the peace of mind of Irene Starrs and Courtney Kampa. Please pray for the comfort of those who love them.”
While the death has been verified, no further information has been released.
Kampa’s writing career
Courtney Kampa was born in Virginia and grew up there. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and her master’s degree from Columbia University. Kampa was also a Wallace Stegner Fellowship student at Stanford University from 2017 to 2019. She began her career as a ballet dancer before transitioning to writing.
Kampa was a prolific writer with a number of works to her credit. She has been featured in several prestigious magazines, including the Boston Review, the Journal, the Atlantic, Poets & Writers magazine, and the National Poetry Review. She published her first book, Our Lady of Not Asking Why, a compilation of her poems.
Her writing has received several awards, including the Rattle Poetry Prize Readers’ Choice Award in 2014, and she was nominated for the Ruth Lily Prize in 2016. Mary Szybist chose Our Lady of Not Asking Why for the New Issues Press First Book Award.
