Kevin P. Henkel walked away from publishing decades ago. He does not give interviews. He does not appear at festivals. He does not, as a rule, answer the phone. What he does is teach — out of a low cinderblock building on the edge of Nipton, California, where the asphalt gives up and the Mojave begins.
The particulars of his career are, by his preference, a matter of rumor. Decades of experience. A controversial reputation in MFA circles. Students who have gone on to sell to every major studio, and a handful who have not spoken to him since. He is said to have edited people whose names you would know. He will not confirm this.
What is known: he reads everything submitted to him in a single sitting. He keeps no office hours. He believes the page is a place where most people lie to themselves, and that the desert, given enough time, will burn that habit out of a person.
He has run the Intensive, in some form, since long before it had a name.
"I'm not interested in your influences. I'm interested in what's left of you when those run out."