Yearly Archives: 2018

Oct 29 2018
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Nonfiction, Poetry, Women's History

Millay Colony

This October, I’ve been in residence at the Millay Colony in Austerlitz, NY, working on my book. Once the home of poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, it’s now a place for writers and artists to come for intense periods of work and wonder, punctuated by long wanderings through the meadows, hills, and forests of Steepletop, Millay’s gorgeous estate in the foothills of the Berkshires.

White with daisies and red with sorrel
   And empty, empty under the sky!—
Life is a quest and love a quarrel—
   Here is a place for me to lie.

(from “Weeds,” Edna St. Vincent Millay, 1921)

Aug 31 2018
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Appalachia, coal, Economic Transition, Nonfiction, Print, Uncategorized, Women's History

Glamour

I wrote a short piece for Glamour magazine’s September issue, published alongside the voices of women in Arizona, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Florida, speaking about the issues that will decide their vote ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. “I’m a Woman in a Battleground State. Here’s What Politicians Don’t Understand About Me.” For the record: I don’t hate the city where I started my Ph.D. That was an error introduced in the editing process, over which I had limited control. 😉

Jun 05 2018
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Announcements, Appalachia, Black History, Fayette County, Labor History, Nonfiction, Photography, Poetry, Print, West Virginia History, Women's History

Two Reviews

Two review-essays prompted by WVU Press’s recent reprint of Muriel Rukeyser’s 1938 poem cycle, The Book of the Dead, to which I wrote an introduction…

Los Angeles Review of Books, “I Wake Up Choking,” by Maggie Messitt:

The Book of the Dead is a story about race. It’s about industry. It’s about being held accountable and the right to a safe workplace. But, to me — like so many Great Depression narratives — it’s about wealth and power and the ways in which that has trumped humanity and justice across time.

The Paris Review, “Muriel Rukeyser, Mother of Everyone” by Sam Huber:

We often lament our porosity to the world’s data as a uniquely contemporary curse. Rukeyser imagines it instead as a capacity we might cultivate, no easier for having been attempted before by others like her, from whom we are lucky to learn, and by many more who will not be preserved or restored. So often in her poems, Rukeyser is both student and teacher.

Apr 12 2018
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Appalachia, Nonfiction, Print

Politico

My agent shouted out my forthcoming books in Politico Magazine the other day, in a story on how the Trump victory impacted publishing:

Meredith Kaffel Simonoff, an agent at DeFiore and Company, said the election encouraged her to take tales from Trump country more seriously. She recently sold to Random House a nonfiction piece set in Appalachia by West Virginia essayist Catherine Moore. The book tracks the history of the region from “the violent West Virginia Mine Wars and the Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921, up to the politics of today.” She has also contracted a second book by Moore of “literary creative non-fiction essays” centered around Appalachia.

Read more…

Mar 30 2018
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Appalachia, Audio, Mine Wars, Nonfiction, West Virginia History

#Ojeda4Congress on NPR

Went down to Pineville, WV, to record a meet-and-greet with U.S. House candidate Richard Ojeda, sponsored by the United Mine Workers of America, for NPR News. It was lots of fun talking to Wyoming County voters about what they’re thinking about going into the election; many were teachers who had been galvanized by Ojeda during the spring’s big strike action in Charleston.

Read the full story…

Feb 21 2018
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Announcements, Appalachia, Black History, Fayette County, Nonfiction, Photography, Poetry, Print, West Virginia History, Women's History

Taylor Books Reading March 1

Wrapping up a series of readings for the re-issue of Muriel Rukeyser’s poem collection, The Book of the Dead, by West Virginia University Press. One more chance to catch a reading here in the region, and this one should be pretty special. I’ll be joined by several descendants of Hawks Nest Tunnel silicosis victims, who will read from Rukeyser’s work. I’ll also read a bit of my nonfiction essay that introduces the new edition of the book. March 1, 5:30-7:00 PM. Visit the event page for details.