Writer of facts and fiction

I write novels and stories inspired by sets of facts and bodies of knowledge. I'm a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and my writing appears in Iron Horse, Stone Canoe, Sport Literate, and elsewhere. Find my review of Best Microfiction 2021 at Trampset. I'm at work on a novel composed of short stories, all connected by water.

As a writer for Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences, I report on faculty research in a wide range of subjects. Recent favorites include articles on: new poems, Augustine and slavery, extreme astronomy, and a submarine robot named Icefin.

Send me a thought, a link, or a poem. I love to connect with people in the writing community. And fellow runners and theater geeks, too.

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Recent Blog Posts

gymnast flipping in the air

More than gymnastics

By Kate Blackwood | October 3, 2021

“Watching her is like trying to catch the light.” Camonghne Felix captures Simone Biles in writing as deftly as a fast-shutter camera in an article for The Cut.

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Read of the week: A Fire Lookout in 2009

By Kate Blackwood | September 19, 2021

An essay about the 2007 fire season in one New Mexico wilderness becomes a bit of a time capsule for me in 2021.

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Three white birds standing in water

What the birds tell me on my birthday

By Kate Blackwood | September 8, 2021

I look for bird omens, especially on my birthday. Here’s what three egrets and a blue heron predict for my year to come.

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