Isla McKetta, MFA
Books
May 2014 – Polska, 1994. Éditions Checkpointed.
February 2014 – Clear Out the Static in Your Attic: A Writer’s Guide to Turning Artifacts into Art. Write Bloody Publications.
Other Publications (Fiction, Essay and Poetry)
April 2024 – “Pack Only What You Can Carry.” King County Poetry in Public: Places of Landing.
June 2021 – “The Legacy of My Great Grandmother’s Diamond.” What Doesn’t Kill Her: Women’s Stories of Resilience.
May 2021 – “Reading the Firebird I Loose Lifetimes” and “Cześć Wojtek (Wojtka Nie Ma).” Cicada.
May 2021 – “Medical Matryoshka.” Last Leaves.
December 2020 – “Orbital Decay” and “Seasoning.” Hummingbird.
May 2020 – “In the swim of days, my period.” 100 Words of Solitude.
April 2020 – “Josh, Once.” Fewer than 500.
April 2020 – “Grief, Layered.” Across the Social Distances.
February 2020 – “Port Townsend Elegy.” Lily Poetry Review.
November 2019 – “Bhanu Kapil in the Night.” Minerva Rising: Issue 17.
February 2019 – “Yet All Memory Bends to Fit.” Cascadia Rising Review.
October 2018 – “Kenneth Patchen on a Bookshelf.” {isacoustic*}.
July 2018 – “Re: Emergence.” Riddled with Arrows.
March 2018 – “The Needle.” antiBODY.
February 2018 – “Swans.” Towers & Dungeons: Lilac City Fairy Tales Volume 4.
August 2017 – “Marco Polo.” Poetry on Buses, 4Culture, King County.
December 2016 – “Sainted Women.” Mothers Always Write.
October 2016 – “Who Sleeps in the Wet Spot.” All We Can Hold: Poems about Motherhood, web feature.
April 2016 – “Proto Person.” All We Can Hold: Poems about Motherhood.
March 2014 – “Jacek.” Cecile’s Writers.
September 2011 – “Empirical Facts.” Soul’s Road: A Fiction Collection.
May 2010 – “Empirical Facts.” Pitkin Review.
Education
2012 EDGE Professional Development Program for Writers, Artist Trust, Seattle, WA
2010 Master of Fine Arts, Creative Writing, Goddard College, Port Townsend, WA
2008 Certificate in Literary Fiction, University of Washington Professional & Continuing Education, Seattle, WA
2001 Bachelor of Arts Degrees, Political Science and Sociology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Fellowships and Residencies
March 2022 – Artist Residency, Centrum, Port Townsend, Washington.
November 2020 – Artist Residency, Centrum, Port Townsend, Washington.
April 2014 – Artist in Residence at the Helen Riaboff Whiteley Center, Friday Harbor, Washington.
Other Publications (About Writing and Literature)
October 2015 – “Portrait of a Press: tNY.Press Breaks the Rules of Genre and Publishing.” Los Angeles Review of Books.
June 2014 – “Portrait of a Press: Write Bloody Fights to Bring the Stage to the Page.” Los Angeles Review of Books.
April 2014 – “Portrait of a Press: Canadian Biblioasis Thrives in ‘South Detroit’.” Los Angeles Review of Books.
April 2012–Present – Book reviews at A Geography of Reading.
September 2012 – “Healthy Practices to Care for Yourself and Your Writing Muse.” Indies Unlimited
Awards
June 2011 – Third place: 2011 Laine Cunningham Novel Awards, The Blotter literary magazine. For Polska, 1994, formerly Murmurs of the River.
March 2011 – Winner: Translation Nexus Contest, Fiction Circus. “East Meets West” was published online and translated into over sixty languages via crowd-sourcing.
Readings and Presentations
February 2017 – Moderator, Ten in Ten: Goddard MFA Faculty Reading, Elliott Bay Books, Seattle, WA
April 2014 – Lit.Mustest VII, Hugo House, Seattle, WA
April 2014 – “How Blogging Benefits a Writer,” AWP, Seattle, WA
April 2014 – Goddard Alumni Reading, Ravenna Third Place Books, Seattle, WA
July 2012 – Vashon 103rd Annual Strawberry Festival, Vashon, WA
May 2012 – Lit.Mustest, Hugo House, Seattle, WA
April 2012 – EDGE for Literary Artists Grand Finale, Elliott Bay Books, Seattle, WA
December 2011 – Reader, Goddard College Gathering, Hugo House, Seattle, WA
July 2010 – Graduate reader, Goddard College, Port Townsend, WA
October 2009 – Featured reader, Artsmith Salon Series, Doe Bay, WA
May 2008 – Reader, University of Washington Certificate Program Group Reading, University of Washington Bookstore, Seattle, WA
Related Experience
2020-2022 Board Member, Seattle City of Literature
2011-2014 Board Member and Development Committee Chair, Richard Hugo House
2009-2012 Managing Editor, Forum magazine
2011-2012 Social Media Manager for Soul’s Road: A Fiction Collection
2009 Creative Writing Instructor, Mary’s Place, Seattle, WA
2008-2009 Reader, Farfelu
2008-2009 Fiction Editor, Copy Editor, Graphics Editor, Pitkin Review
Conferences Attended
2023 AWP, Seattle, WA
2019 AWP, Portland, OR
2014 AWP, Seattle, WA
2011 AWP, Washington, DC
2010 AWP, Denver, CO