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catemcgowan.com
Author of four books; the most recent: the poetry collection, SACRIFICIAL STEEL (Driftwood Press, 2025) & the essay collection, WRITING IS REVISION (Brill, 2024). My other published books: a story collection & novel. PhD/MFA https://linktr.ee/catemcgowan
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Posts 32 Comments 18

at least he didn't do something truly reckless like try to forgive student loans

submitted 1 day ago • 81 comments

I'm so glad that our defense infrastructure and intelligence continue to be well-funded and maintained with competent personnel, so there's no chance a foreign actor might attack us with a nuclear event here. 🙃

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

September 30!

submitted 3 days ago • 6 comments

Another amazing piece from @catemcgowan.com responding to a seasonal prompt from @natflashfictionday.bsky.social. These flash stories are on fire!

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

THE BEAR CAM IS BACK!

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

The Write-In: 'The Deepest Part' by Cate McGowan #nffd2025

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Andor featuring one of these mysterious Roman dodecahedrons is such a flex

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

This one was a tough one to write, to be honest. Death and humor. How to strike the correct tone without coming across as callous? Thank you, @natflashfictionday.bsky.social, for such amazing prompts!

submitted 4 days ago • 1 comment

ICYMI: The Write-In: 'Pressing Clouds' by Cate McGowan #nffd2025

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Another great @catemcgowan.com flash-- funny, sad, all the feelings. And as always with a McGowan piece, a bit off-kilter. Thank you, @natflashfictionday.bsky.social, for bringing Cate's fiction back out of hiding.

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

What a glorious flash from @catemcgowan.com. She has like six @natflashfictionday.bsky.social, and they're so wildly different, strange, and heartbreaking.

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

"Claude worked on some things as it nested in its dark bag. Her houseplants grew sideways and blinked. Her blender recited minor Sound poets’ unpublished pieces. The moon changed its schedule. People noticed." @catemcgowan.com's story is fantastic and funny and I wanted to read more!

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

Today’s the day—my first poetry collection is out in the world with @driftwoodpress.bsky.social. If you’ve ever wondered what it all means (or doesn’t), I hope these poems meet you there. I’d be honored if you took a look and grateful if you shared. (Details in the post below.) #poetry #BookSky

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

Today’s the day—my first poetry collection is out in the world with @driftwoodpress.bsky.social. If you’ve ever wondered what it all means (or doesn’t), I hope these poems meet you there. I’d be honored if you took a look and grateful if you shared. (Details in the post below.) #poetry #BookSky

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

OUT TODAY! Swipe to see inside of Sacrificial Steel, available everywhere today! Use the link in our bio this collection that uses art, history, and complex, musical poetic lines and forms to explore the biggest question we have as humans: what does it all mean? #booksky @catemcgowan.com‬

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

A top staffer to Sen. Tina Smith emailed Sen. Mike Lee’s top staffers on Monday about “how much additional pain you’ve caused on an unspeakably horrific weekend” Full emails below

submitted 6 days ago • 763 comments

Don't get me wrong, I'm a ball of fears and frustrations -- am currently writing a book, after all -- but I reject attempts to frame historians' dislike of LLMs as fear/anxiety about their own skills, and not as a concern about what doing history -- the method, the ethos -- is.

submitted 6 days ago • 5 comments

OUT TOMORROW: Have you ordered Sacrificial Steel yet? Use the link in our bio to order this poetry collection by @catemcgowan.com‬. #booksky

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

There's a thread on AskReddit asking, "People who have had to drain their life’s savings on a single event, what happened?" 99% of the answers are depressing American stories about medical bills, 1% is an Australian who found a wombat burrowing under their house.

submitted 7 days ago • 172 comments

The stupidest people are in charge because we couldn’t prosecute a political crime because it would look too political.

submitted 7 days ago • 417 comments

It is firmly in the “somebody’s making an active decision to downplay this” territory.

submitted 8 days ago • 257 comments

'The Fox' by @catemcgowan.com A stunning micro on love, loss, and finding one's way home. @natflashfictionday.bsky.social

submitted 7 days ago • 1 comment

“It was unusable. However, what mattered was my passion and commitment” — Vigdis Hjorth, Long Live the Post Horn! (translated by Charlotte Barslund) www.alinastefanescuwriter.com/blog/2025/6/...

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Irony won't die in 2025. We are the majority.

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

Fort Cavazos under lockdown amid active shooter investigation, CBS News reports reut.rs/3HV2NsO

submitted 8 days ago • 6 comments

Orlando, you make us proud! #NoKingsDay

submitted 8 days ago • 6 comments

FlashFlood: Debut Flash: 'Graduation' by Sarah Padgett #nffd2025

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

I’m just saying whatever actually happened it’s republicans’ fault. Their hands are covered in blood and this was the inevitable result of decades of dehumanizing people and when they and the mainstream media insist it’s “both sides” they are full of shit.

submitted 9 days ago • 4 comments

The right-wing folks here in Florida are trying to scare us away. I won't back down. Heading out to multiple protests with my very big sign. I'm all in!

submitted 9 days ago • 1 comment

FlashFlood: 'The Fox' by Cate McGowan #nffd2025

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

So, I have found my way back to flash fiction after cheating on the form with poetry. Here's one of the first short-shorts I've written in a long while. Hope you enjoy it! Happy No Kings Day! Happy National Flash Fiction Day!

submitted 9 days ago • 1 comment

The House narrowly approved legislation Thursday to eliminate the next two years of federal funding for public media outlets. The measure passed 214 to 212, with two Republican lawmakers switching their votes from "no" to "yes" to push it over the finish line.

submitted 9 days ago • 108 comments