Katie's Blog

Wondering why I have a picture of me and a tiny kitten? Ok, I'll start off by explaining that bit. The neighbors' cat had kittens on my patio. After an unfortunate accident involving their dog, the mom decided to abandon the brood. Low and behold, Bruno and I have taken them in. It's summer; I need a project, aside from finishing my second full manuscript of course. So for the next four weeks or so, I'll be raising two rambunctious and ridiculously cute kittens. Hopefully, by the time they're old enough to be adopted, I'll be able to let them go. Since, like, I already have five cats and am one Bruno away from becoming THAT crazy cat lady at the end of the street... I digress. This summer, I'll be teaching the second summer session. So I'm going to be busy from mid July to the end of August. But! I do have now until mid July off, so, aside from successfully raising (and letting go of) these kittens, my plans include: 1. Finish 2nd full poetry ...

Another whirlwind of a year comes to a close! And I'm just catching my breath from it all. I'd venture to say this was the best VIPF yet. Sure, we had our ups and downs, and sure, I'm really, really exhausted, but this year, I had the opportunity to take an active role in organizing, editing, and participating in the festival. And wow, what a rewarding experience it was! A super big thanks to all the other organizers: Brenda Riojas, Edward Vidaurre, Ileana Garcia-Spitz, and most especially, the head honcho of the whole shebang, Daniel Garcia Ordaz. I'll detail the experience day by day, Thursday - Saturday. I skipped out on Sunday's events because, well, I'm lazy. Thursday, April  25: The Kick-off Yes, that's my name on the byline! So in real VIPF tradition, Thursday is the night we celebrate the release of our anthology, Boundless. This event was really wonderful -- I felt really honored to be a part of it this year, not as a poet, but as an edi...