Catherine Anderson

Poet, Creative Nonfiction Writer

Kansas City, MO
Missouri US

Author's Bio

Born in Detroit, the daughter of a school teacher and a newspaper reporter, Catherine Anderson has published four full-length collections of poetry as well as numerous essays. Her latest work is a memoir (2022), centered on life with her brother who had intellectual disabilities, My Brother Speaks in Dreams: Of Family, Beauty & Belonging. Her work has been noted in The Georgia Review, The Boston Globe, and The Kansas City Star. For years she lived in Boston where she edited a community newspaper centered on the lives of Asian Americans and worked as a staff writer for area nonprofits. She now lives in Kansas City where she works with new interpreters from the city’s immigrant communities.

Publications & Prizes

Creative Nonfiction

Book:
My Brother Speaks in Dreams: Of Family, Beauty & Belonging (Wising Up Press, 2022)

Poetry

Books:
Everyone I Love Immortal (Woodley Press, 2019)
,
Woman With a Gambling Mania (Mayapple Press, 2014)
,
The Work of Hands (Perugia Press, 2000)
,
In the Mother Tongue (Alice James Books, 1983)
Prizes won: 

Crab Orchard Review: 2010 Richard Peterson Poetry Prize

The I-70 Review: 2013 Gary Gildner Poetry Award

Southern Humanities Review: 2018 Finalist for the Jake Adam York Auburn Witness Poetry Prize

Personal Favorites

Favorite authors: 
Marianne Boruch Linda Gregerson Sharon Olds Larry Levis W.S. Merwin Trish Reeves Ada Limon Donald Justice Robert Hayden Elizabeth Bishop Philip Levine Tracy K. Smith Susan Stewart Natasha Trethewey Adonis Pablo Neruda Bertolt Brecht Aracelis Girmay Anne Truitt Li Po Tu Fu Wang Wei Tracy Brimhall Rebecca Hart Olander Maryfrances Wagner Deborah Digges B.H. Fairchild
What I'm reading now: 
The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard, An Ordinary Life by B.H. Fairchild, The Carrying by Ada Limon, The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee by David Treuer

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
White
Prefers to work with: 
Any
Fluent in: 
English
Born in: 
Detroit, MI
Michigan
Raised in: 
Detroit, MI
Michigan
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Feb 17, 2023