Kathy Kremins (she/her) is a retired New Jersey public school teacher, coach, and adjunct professor. A queer, Newark-born and raised daughter of Irish-Catholic immigrants, she has a BA from St. Elizabeth University (College of St. Elizabeth), an MFA from Goddard College, and a D. Litt. from Drew University. She has two chapbooks of poems, Seamus & His Smalls (Two Key Customs, 2023) and Undressing the World (Finishing Line Press, 2022). Her first full-length book of poetry, The Curve of Things, will be published by CavanKerry Press in 2024. She is also the author of The Ethics of Reading: The Broken Beauties of Toni Morrison, Arundhati Roy, and Nawal el Sadaawi (2010) and essay contributor to Too Smart to be Sentimental: Contemporary Irish American Women Writers (2008). Kathy’s recent poetry appears in Migrations and Home: The Elements of Place Anthology, One Art, Poetry As Promised, Soup Can Magazine, Writers Resist, Stillwater Review, and other publications. Her 2023 and 2022 art exhibits, including her photography, were “Werk: A Celebration of LGBTQ+ Art at EDGE New Jersey and “Revival: Post-Pandemic Visions” and “Say Gay: Art As Queer Activism” at the 1978 Maplewood Arts Center. Photos from her Evening Edges series appear in the January 2023 issue of Burningword Journal. She made her voice-acting debut in the 2023 short films, The Lines in Between and Confessional. She is a long-time editor for NJ Audubon Magazine. She serves as a creative consultant for Arts By the People (ABTP), a non-profit organization whose mission is to establish, operate, promote, and conduct educational programs, opportunities, classes, and sessions in the creative arts for the public, especially seniors and youth. Kathy is also a member of the NJ-based feminist poetry collective Write On! Poetry Babes who read, write, and support all things womxn, queer, trans, and BIPOC. She participates in an ongoing environmental poetry project, Writing the Land (WTL), sponsored by NatureCulture, and two ABTP projects, Bridging Gaps and Intonation, that combine poetry, dance, and music. On a daily basis, Kathy plays with her Littles, Arlo and Felix, and pets the chimixes, Elvis and Daphne.
photo credit: Ysabel Y. Gonzalez