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Author Catherine Herrera

Author Bio

In 2022, Catherine Herrera is a selected Writing Fellow at Roots & Written, and her writing/art is featured in 'The Lemon Tree: Artists' & Writers' Personal Journeys of Creativity' published in March 2022. 

 

Catherine Herrera writes poetry, short stories, novels and memoir. Catherine Herrera spent her early years living in Maryland, forest lands her backyard, a place of wonder and invented stories. After moving to California, Catherine started writing poetry and short stories. A pinhole camera course and watching her father and grandfather as photographers, her passion for writing was paired with a love for writing. She was encouraged to write by her father. 

A stint at the Daily Trojan while a student at the University of Southern California ignited a desire to report through photos and in writing and share stories of the people in the world that were kin, most often never seen in the media and on screens. That desire for sharing stories grew as she moved to Mexico City as a Fulbright Fellow, and began working as a photojournalist & documentary news producer. While there, Catherine was invited to publish in an anthology, being her first formal publication of her writing. 

Publications & Fellowships 

 

2022 Writing Fellow, Rooted & Written, San Francisco Writers Conference 

 

‘The Lemon Tree: Artists’ & Writers’ Personal Journeys of Creativity, edited by Nitza Agam, March 2022 

 

‘Talking to Goddess, Peaceful Visions’ from Many Traditions edited by D’vorah Green (2014)

 

‘Arts as Catalyst for Healing,’ Bioneers Conference Presenter, Oct. 2014

Screening of ‘Bridge Walkers’ and ‘Open Doors’ with a talk on the power of art as catalyst for healing community relations and individual health. 

 

‘Early Native American Participation in San Francisco,’ August, 2014, San Francisco Heritage and San Francisco Latino Historical Society, highlighting the Herrera Family living in San Francisco in 1860, and, Eugene Herrera, blues/jazz saxophonist, and, at his death at 103 years of age, was the oldest working musician in the SF Musicians’ Union. 

 

The Potrero Hill, Photojournalist and Reporter, San Francisco, CA 

Publication of photographs and articles.

 

Native News of California, publication of poetry written by Catherine Herrera.

 

‘Landless Indian,’ Publication of photographs from the ‘Landless Indian’ Series as illustration for California Ohlone Educational Curriculum, and, for the 2013 Ohlone Days Program. Coyote Hills Regional Park. 

 

Cover Photograph, Catalogue, Ohlone Days 2010, Coyote Regional Park, California

Cover photograph, ‘As the Trees and Moon always remember us,’

 

Ghost Writer/Editor: Pioneer Chicana/Latina Artists: Creating  Institutional Inclusion, Blaze Anthology (2007); The Great Divide, abstract for conference presentation on the article Pioneer Chicana/Latina Artists: Creating Institutional Inclusion.

 

Essay published in One Wound for Another, 2001/2006

An anthology of Latino writers contributing reflections on five years after 9-11, and as a follow up on the first essay published in Cybertestimonials. Binational publication and sale. 

Education

2022

Rooted & Written Fellowship

Week-Long Confrence

Grotto’s award-winning conference and workshop for Writers of Color featured literary luminaries Hector Tobar, winner of the Pulitzer PrizeVictoria Chang, award-winning poet, writer, editor, and critic, and author of OBIT, winner of the the PEN Voelcker Award, Natalie Baszile, award-winning author and filmmaker, and the creator of the novel Queen Sugar, which inspired the drama directed by Ava DuVernay, now beginning its 7th season on the Oprah Winfrey Network, and Ingrid Rojas Contreras, author of the 2022 memoir The Man Who Could Move Clouds, named a "Most Anticipated Book of the Year" by Time, Today, Entertainment Weekly, Bustle, Ms. Magazine, the Seattle Times, Electric Literature, and more. 

 

The Sunday, August 14, 2022 Opening Session featured  Marie Myung-Ok Lee, whose novel, The Evening Hero, was just published with Simon & Schuster in Summer 2022 and was a Good Morning America Book Club "Buzz" book pick. 

2019-2021

Sundance Collab, Hedgebrook, Road Map Warriors, BIPOC Writing Group, An Important Meeting

Writing Workshops, Accountability Groups, and Events in screenwriting, poetry, fiction and non-fiction over the course of 2 years.

2009

Poynter/Columbia University Training in Journalism

Telling Untold Stories: 4 week journalism training to refine storytelling by written word.

My Writing Journey

Writing comes naturally. I love creating exquisite, thought-provoking  writing for individuals, media, publications, and companies. Standing up as an author writing about the world around me and my experiences walking through this earth was more challenging. I looked every which direction until I finally sat at my desk to take writing seriously. In 2022, I was selected as a Rooted & Written Fellow, with an opportunity for mentorship and a week-long writing workshop with my cohort. This honor stoked a sense of urgency I had felt to complete and publish my writing. I also gained a sense of belonging and participation in the writing community and greater confidence that 'my words matter.' I am presently completing my first chapbook of poems - All My Roads - and working on a novel, Homebound by Sea

 

Writing is opening a new creative path that feels both natural while also outside my comfort zone, putting words to feelings and experiences that had seemingly felt easier to express visually.

Over the last 20 years, I have been invited for publication in anthologies including The Lemon Tree Anthology on Creativity released in 2022. The pandemic's push to move our world online opened new doors for me, making possible participation in writing accountability groups, workshops and courses with Sundance Collab, Hedgebrook, & Roadmap Warriors.

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