Kathryn Jordan Contact Blog Photos Poems

Bio

Kathryn is an author from Berkeley, California. She earned her B.A. and later her M.A. at UC Berkeley, studying with U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Hass. While obtaining her English teaching credential at UC, she won the Elizabeth Mills Crothers Prize in Literary Composition. She then took a hiatus from writing to raise a family and teach English, choral music, traditional folk song and guitar for many years. She devised and taught a curriculum for middle school that combined creative writing, singing, music theory, and history in sharing with youth the story of African American music and its impact on American life. After retiring from teaching, Kathryn returned to poetry. She is grateful for her extensive and inspiring studies with Ellen Bass and brilliant critiques provided by Alison Luterman early on. Finally, the occasional week with Major Jackson, Marie Howe, Dorianne Laux and Joe Millar have also been blessings.

Kathryn confesses to being vocationally promiscuous. On the writing side, poetry and many published Letters to the Editor. On the music side, she occasionally plays at cafes and bars with her husband and she has performed in community theatre productions, thus bringing a dramatic flair when she reads her poems, even bursting into song when the poem requires it. Last but not least, Kathryn loves to hike the East Bay Hills in search of birdsong to translate to poems.

In Spring of 2021, Kathe was interviewed by Chautauqua Journal. You can read the interview by clicking here. In July of 2019, Kathe was interviewed on KVMR, Nevada City Radio. To listen to this interview, please click here. You can also right-click (or control-click) and choose "Save Link As" if you want to download the interview and save it for later or put it on your mobile device.