The Personal Bio:

I’m Kathryn Harlan, though in real life I usually go by Kay. I write genre-bending fiction, usually about queer people, and when I’m not doing that I teach both academic and creative writing. A lot of my writing is about the stories we tell ourselves to understand life, how narratives shape our societies, relationships, and identities, and what happens when those narratives begin to deteriorate or come into conflict with each other.

I grew up in Southern California, in a distant suburb of Los Angeles, and received a BA in English from CSU-LA. From there, I moved to Wisconsin for an MFA in fiction from UW-Madison. I graduated in 2020 and taught writing there until 2022, when my short story collection, Fruiting Bodies, was published by WW Norton.

Beyond teaching, writing, and reading, I’m very interested in folklore (and have been since I first got my grubby six-year-old hands on an encyclopedia of mythical monsters.) I like books and podcasts about pseudoscience, misinformation, and how these things spread. I knit and embroider enthusiastically but not well. I have a cat named Merricat (yes, after the Shirley Jackson character); she is very beautiful and you can see a picture of her here. The two most popular artists in my iTunes library are The Mountain Goats and Original Broadway Cast. That’s the personal stuff, if you want the professional stuff scroll down for my CV.

Professional Experience

Publications

Awards & Honors

  • Finalist, PEN/Faulkner award for Fiction | PEN America, 2023
    Finalist, Nelligan Prize | Colorado Review, 2020
    Winner, Derleth Prize | University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2019

  • Stern Teaching Award | University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2020

    Honored Instructor | University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2018

Teaching Experience

  • Teaching Specialist | Spring 2022 | oversaw one section of Engl 307 - Intermediate Fiction & Poetry

    Faculty Assistant | Fall 2021 | two sections of Engl 100 - Introduction to College Composition & one section of Engl 307 - Intermediate Fiction & Poetry

    Faculty Assistant | Fall 2020 - Spring 2021 | three remote, asynchronous sections of Engl 100 - Introduction to College Composition

    Teaching Assistan t| Fall 2018 - Spring 2020 | one section of Engl 207 - Beginning Fiction and Poetry in my first year and one section of Engl 100 - Introduction to College Composition in my second

  • Teaching Artist - Taught six week online course “Something Old, Something New: Writing the Fairytale Retelling | Fall 2020, Summer 2021

  • Student Assistant - Graded written assignments for ME 4971 & 4972 - Engineering Senior Design | Spring 2017

Other Experience

  • First Reader - Dark Skies, a Triangulation Anthology | 2019

    Editor-in-Chief - Statement, campus literary magazine for CSULA | 2017-2018

  • Manuscript Reviewer | University of Wisconsin Press | Spring 2023
    Co-Chair | Equity & Diversity Committee | UFAS-223 | Spring 2021
    Judge | Charles M. Hart Jr. Writers of Promise Award | UW-Madison | Spring 2019

  • MFA in Creative Writing, summa cum laude | University of Wisconsin-Madison | May, 2020

    BA in English, summa cum laude | California State University, Los Angeles | May, 2018