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Cate McGowan

@catemcgowan.com

1.7K followers 2.3K following 27 posts

Author of four books; the most recent: the poetry collection, SACRIFICIAL STEEL (Driftwood Press, 2025) & the essay collection, WRITING IS REVISION (Brill, 2024). Also, a story collection & novel. PhD/MFA. Go Johns Hopkins! https://linktr.ee/catemcgowan

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Cate McGowan @catemcgowan.com · Jun 17

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

Driftwood Press @driftwoodpress.bsky.social · Jun 17

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

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The Disappointed Housewife~Submissions always open! @offbeatlit.bsky.social · Jul 30

A #shortstory that changes every time you read it.

"Having Weight" by Cate McGowan.

Come on by and take it for a spin!

thedisappointedhousewife.com/2025/07/29/h...

Having Weight ~ fiction by Cate McGowan

“Having Weight” is a modular story that mirrors the narrator’s fractured state of mind, prompting the reader to collaborate in constructing meaning from the apparent chaos. Each time the reader vis…

thedisappointedhousewife.com

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Cate McGowan @catemcgowan.com · 7h

What a wonderful illustration!

Reposted by Cate McGowan

Present & Correct @presentcorrect.bsky.social · 2d

How ‘Best’ are your wishes if you only write ‘BW’ at the end of an email.

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julieinstitches.bsky.social @julieinstitches.bsky.social · 10d

Day dress, Augustine Martin, France, ca 1880. Via Historic Costume Collection, Drexel University.

Navy & brown patterned gown with buttons, France, c1880. Wool, silk & metal, Drexel

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Cate McGowan @catemcgowan.com · 11d

Hey June, thank you so much for reading! And for your kind words.

Cate McGowan @catemcgowan.com · 11d

Thank you, @trampset.bsky.social, for featuring my story!

Reposted by Cate McGowan

trampset @trampset.bsky.social · 12d

"It’s been seven years since I left the sea, and still the salt crusts my knees."

@catemcgowan.com's "Water Witching"

trampset.org/water-witchi...

Water Witching

by Cate McGowan

trampset.org

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Nicholas Slayton @nslayton.bsky.social · 14d

Deeply odd question but if Bluesky has taught me anything, someone here will know. Anyone involved in or know someone involved in the military reenactment community in Japan? Working on a story involving it.

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E.A.R. @primateyell.bsky.social · 22d

how attractive was Robert Redford?

in college, a lesbian friend said approvingly of another queer woman on campus that she "looked like Robert Redford"

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Dave Housley @housleydave.bsky.social · 22d

I'm so sorry to hear about the passing of Dan Wickett, founder of the Emerging Writers Network and Dzanc Books. Dan was so kind and such a connector. He was one of the first people to take me seriously as a writer and take @barrelhouse.bsky.social seriously as a literary magazine.

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Matt Bell @mdbell79.bsky.social · 22d

I'm so sorry to hear of Dan Wickett's passing. We worked together for years at Dzanc Books, and I'm so grateful for all he did for me there and elsewhere. He was a great friend, a brilliant reader, a true advocate for writers. He loved books like no one else. I miss him already, and always will.

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Penni W. @penumbrawhirl.bsky.social · 22d

My voice is my passport.

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Cate McGowan @catemcgowan.com · 22d

a drawing of hands making a heart shape with the words love you below

ALT: a drawing of hands making a heart shape with the words love you below

media.tenor.com

Cate McGowan @catemcgowan.com · 22d

So thrilled to have a new story out at Flash Frog⚡🐸: “Conductor,” which explores grief and what it means to keep working when a departed’s shadow lingers.

flash-frog.com/2025/09/15/c...

#FlashFiction #Grief #Memory @flashfrog.bsky.social

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Gabe Ortíz @tusk81.bsky.social · Apr 15

MY HEART 😭

ABC 10News @abc10news.bsky.social · Apr 14

WATCH: Elephants at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park react to Monday's 5.2 magnitude earthquake that shook San Diego County. The elephants formed an "alert circle" meant to protect the young and the entire herd from any threats, according to the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.

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Flash Frog @flashfrog.bsky.social · 23d

NEW STORY⚡️🐸

“Conductor” by @catemcgowan.com is now up!

Art by Ojo Victoria Ilemobayo

flash-frog.com/2025/09/15/c...

Conductor by Cate McGowan

We kept the job site running after the accident. Hauled pallets. Poured concrete. Took our breaks by the fence with nobody saying much. The scaffolding stayed up, though no one climbed it for days.…

flash-frog.com

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Cate McGowan @catemcgowan.com · Sep 1

"Night Swimming" or "Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars)"

Sophia_Nyx 🏳️‍⚧️ @sophianyx.bsky.social · Sep 1

Without saying Losing My Religion, fav R.E.M. Song?

michael stipe in a black suit blue shirt bald five o clock shadow leaning into the side of a brown building with a zig zag design. hot.

"We're absolutely American and distinctly so, I think. That's part of what people respond to outside of this country, part of the reason that we're such a huge band outside of the U.S., where we're not so popular now as we were 10 or 12 years ago."

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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · Aug 23

I absolutely adore trompe l'oeil paintings of printed images, & here's one of my absolute favorites: The Printseller's Window, 1883, by little-known English artist Walter Goodman, a pictorial meditation on modern image culture & photography's impact on painting magart.rochester.edu/objects-1/in...

A detailed painting showing a bearded man seen through an opening in the window of a print shop, with all sorts of printed & photographic image on view

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Present & Correct @presentcorrect.bsky.social · Aug 15

Is it called breaking news because everything is broken.

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David Daniel @daviddaniel.bsky.social · Aug 14

This is awesome: a "WKRP in Cincinnati" fan created a three-hour Johnny Fever radio block, by using clips from the TV show and dropping in the full songs on his intros and outros, plus commercials and Les Nessman news breaks.

WKRP: Johnny Fever

www.awphooey.com

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Reposted by Cate McGowan

Lee-in-Iowa 💙 @lee-in-iowa.bsky.social · Aug 14

A dozen of my works were in here!

Yours may be too!!

Search the database, screenshot the thefts, go to the law firm’s form and add yourself to this class action lawsuit.

Our very WORDS have been taken from us!

Ruth EJ Booth (she/they) @ruthejbooth.bsky.social · Aug 14

"If your books were uploaded to LibGen/fed into the LLMs, add your name to the potential class action lawsuit by tomorrow." Details:

LibDem database: www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

Attorney form: www.lieffcabraser.com/anthropic-au...

(This information comes via a reliable Discord source.)

Search LibGen, the Pirated-Books Database That Meta Used to Train AI

Millions of books and scientific papers are captured in the collection’s current iteration.

www.theatlantic.com

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Turn and Work (Hugh) @turnandwork.com · Aug 1

(3/3)
...plus Claire Gallagher in @fracturedlit.bsky.social
Cate McGowan @catemcgowan.com ‬ in @offbeatlit.bsky.social
and Ella Mae in @maudlinhouse.bsky.social

The Shortlist for August 1, 2025 - turn and work

Fiction by Patricia Highsmith, Emily Rinkema, Sarah Lynn Hurd, Antheia, Kip Knott, X.C. Atkins, Claire Gallagher, Cate McGowan, and Ella Mae.

www.turnandwork.com

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Cate McGowan @catemcgowan.com · Jul 29

I have a new story up at the DISAPPOINTED HOUSEWIFE. Every time you choose the shuffle button, you will read a different story. Would love for you to try it!

thedisappointedhousewife.com/2025/07/29/h...

Having Weight ~ fiction by Cate McGowan

thedisappointedhousewife.com

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Cate McGowan @catemcgowan.com · Jul 29

Having Weight ~ fiction by Cate McGowan

thedisappointedhousewife.com

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Reposted by Cate McGowan

Lisa Needham @snipy.bsky.social · Jul 22

oh holy shit

💥 @dynamoe.bsky.social · Jul 22

Depending on your childhood, this hat may stir powerful memories. IYKYK. #corningware

a white baseball cap with the three-flower motif on corningware baking dishes

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