Catherine Taylor is a writer and editor who works on a wide range of nonfiction forms–from documentary and literary journalism to lyric essays, hybrid-genre writing, critical theory, and poetics. She is the author of Apart, a hybrid-genre book of memoir and political history about South Africa (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2012), and of Giving Birth: A Journey Into the World of Mothers and Midwives (Penguin Putnam). Taylor worked as a producer, writer, and researcher on a number of documentary film projects in New York City including “The Exiles” which won an Emmy award for historical programming, and she was a Co-founder and Producer of The Human Rights Watch Film Festival. She is also a Founding Editor of Essay Press, an independent press dedicated to publishing innovative essays in book form.

Professor Taylor's essays, poetry, and reviews have appeared in many literary journals including The Colorado Review, Jacket2, ActionYes, The Laurel Review, Xantippe, Postmodern Culture, Hotel Amerika, and Witness. Her work has been supported by fellowships and residencies at The MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, and The Millay Colony.

Areas

• Nonfiction Writing
• The Essay
• Cultural Studies
• Documentary Poetics

Degrees

• Ph.D. English, Duke University
• B.A. College Scholar in Literature and Classics, Cornell University

Selected Publications

Books

• Apart (Ugly Duckling Presse Dossier Series, 2012).
• Giving Birth: a Journey into the World of Mothers and Midwives (Penguin Putnam).

Essays and Articles

• "Take Your Time: The Ethics of the Event in Rachel Blau DuPlessis' 'Drafts'," Jacket2. Winter 2012.
• "Protest," "Arboretum," and "It Begins With a Glance," (Nominated for a Pushcart Prize), Hotel Amerika. 2010.
• “Duffer’s Drift,” Witness. Winter 2008. 
• “Robben Island,” The Laurel Review. Fall 2008.
• “Bad Family,” ActionYes. Winter 2008.
• “Open Studios: Rachel Blau DuPlessis’ Blue Studios," Postmodern Culture. Winter 2008.
• “Mother Country,” Nightsun. Winter 2007.
• “Cape Town Journals,” Colorado Review. Fall 2007. 
• “Trace,” Xantippe. Spring 2007.
• “An Interview with Susan Stewart,” Quarter After Eight. Spring 2006.

Selected Presentations

• "Between Art and Politics: Ficto-Criticism and Suspended Genres.” Columbia University, 2012.
• "Faculty Conversation: Innovative Writing and International Relations.” Vassar College, 2012.
• "The Drafts of Rachel Blau DuPlessis." American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA), Vancouver, 2011.
• "The Pleasures of Research." Nonfiction Now. The University of Iowa, 2010.
• "The State of the Essay in the Publishing Marketplace." Welcome Table Press Conference, Fordham, Lincoln Center, NY, 2010.
• “Mock Docs, Fakes, and Hoaxes.” Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP), Denver, 2010.
• “Protest Memoirs.” AWP Conference, Chicago, 2009. 
• "Independent Literary Presses.” Brown University. Providence RI, 2009
• “Women Essayists.” AWP Conference, New York, 2008.
• "Recitative and Reprise: Contemporary Returns to Reznikoff's Testimony." MLA, Chicago, 2007. 
• “Beyond A Degraded Realism: Documentary Innovations.” MLA, Chicago, 2007.  
• “Transgeneric Nonfiction and the Rhetoric of the Gap.” ACLA, Puebla, Mexico, 2007.
• “Mapping Creative Non-Fiction.” MLA, Philadelphia, 2006. 
• “Fragments of the Truth: Rhetorics of Genocide.” MLA, Philadelphia, December, 2006.
• “Mixing Memoir and Political History: Identity, Race, and Nation,” Invited Lecture. All Africa House Lecture Series, The University of Cape Town, 2006.
• “Doing Documentary Work with Diverse Communities.”  Duke University Center for Documentary Studies. Durham, NC 2005.