Kate Hanson Foster: NEA Fellowship, Journal Publications

December 5, 2018 by PaulM Posted in Culture, Lowell, Poetry 12 Comments

Kate Hanson Foster: NEA Fellowship, New Book Completed, & More

We caught up to a busy Kate Hanson Foster on the Groton frontier, where she lives with her husband, Bert, and their three children. She reports that the garden is pulled up and they just stacked a cord of wood for the fireplace. She grew up in Andover, Mass., and graduated from UMass Lowell. Kate co-edited Renovation Journal in Lowell for a few years. She said 2018 was a productive year. Last October, she was awarded the NEA Parent Fellowship through the Vermont Studio Center which afforded her the time and space to finish her second poetry book manuscript, called Crow Funeral. Her first book, Mid Drift, is available from at loompress.com or at amazon.com for those who prefer that source.

Some of those poems have found homes or are forthcoming in journals such as Atticus Review, Mom Egg Review, Moon City Review, Salamander, and Birmingham Poetry Review. The title poem of the manuscript, “Crow Funeral,” was a semi-finalist for the Tupelo Quarterly Poetry Prize. Her poem “Grease” was a finalist for the Brittany Noakes Poetry Award, and another poem, “Elegy of Color” from Salamander magazine, will be reprinted in the 12th edition of The Bedford Introduction to Literature. “That’s pretty cool,” Kate said. And it is a big deal to have a poem in a best-selling textbook. The Bedford is in its 11th edition.

Full disclosure: Kate and I collaborated on a poem called “Star Grace” that was selected for They Said: A Multi-Genre Anthology of Contemporary Collaborative Writing, published this year by Black Lawrence Press.

When not working on poems, she writes book reviews, including a recent one of Matt W Miller’s The Wounded for the Water, published by The Critical Flame. Here’s the link.

http://criticalflame.org/what-do-i-know-of-drowning-on-matt-w-millers-the-wounded-for-the-water/

And here are links to three of her poems:

“The Birds”

https://inklettemagazine.com/2017/09/01/the-birds/

“Never to be Told”

http://www.yespoetry.com/news/kate-hanson-foster

“Crow Funeral”

http://www.tupeloquarterly.com/crow-funeral-by-kate-hanson-foster/

12 Responses to Kate Hanson Foster: NEA Fellowship, Journal Publications

  1. Rachel says:

    Kate is an amazing poet. Thanks for this cool profile of local writers! I like this kind of thing.

  2. Rob says:

    Local and home grown talent is a wonderful thing! It’s great to see a vibrant and active community.

  4. Kristie says:

    In Crow Funeral, she didn’t just pause at an often overlooked critical stage of understanding, the manner in which things are or are not understood when faced with the unanswerable, she absorbed it, walked through the scenes as if she herself could have been a ghost watching the goings on as one that no longer gets wrapped up in earthly affairs. She rips the shades open from the dark unconscious and presents a beautifully rendered painting that is utterly complete in an understanding that floats above the human condition.

  9. Sandra A says:

    Great article and big thanks for the poem links! “The birds fly out”. Lingers. Brilliant.

  10. Kate says:

    I love “ Never to be Told” quiet, tight and dark mood. This poet sounds like someone I’d like to know! Thanks for this article.

  12. Stephen O'Connor says:

    Very productive year, and recognized as such by some serious literary people. Well done.