Writer Josefine Kals Remembers Mentor Stephen Dixon and His Final Works

Josefine Kals recounts her years as a student, publicist and pen‑pal of Stephen Dixon, noting his intimate prose and the posthumous release of unpublished stories by McSweeney’s.

Kals first met Dixon as a sophomore in the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars, where his small basement class was marked by his ink‑stained pockets and a calm, soporific voice that urged students to find poignancy in everyday moments.

After graduating, Kals entered the publishing world as a publicity assistant at the Knopf Doubleday group of Random House, now Penguin Random House, and later reconnected with Dixon through email, exchanging everyday details and typewritten fragments of his unpublished writing.

The correspondence continued for years, with Dixon sending occasional FedEx envelopes from Baltimore containing new work, even as Kals explained she could not influence publishing decisions.

In the fall of 2019, Dixon’s daughters informed Kals that he was in hospice and offered her the chance to send a message, a gesture Kals describes as an intimate honor.

Following his death, McSweeney’s announced the upcoming publication of two previously unpublished works alongside re‑issues of Dixon’s acclaimed novels and stories, including End of I and Goodbye to Goodbye.