About the Poet
Cassandra Whitaker (she/they) is a non-binary trans writer living in rural Virginia. Whit's work has been published in literary journals such as The Rumpus, Michigan Quarterly Review, Conjunctions, The Mississippi Review, The Bennington Review, Plume, and internationally in The Scores, The Ilanot Review, BODY, The Oxford Review, and other places. They are a Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize nominee in fiction and poetry. Whitaker’s first collection of poems, Wolf Devouring A Wolf Devouring A Wolf, is forthcoming from Jackleg Press in 2025.
Whit is a recipient of fellowships from the Maryland Humanities, Maryland State Arts Council, and the Witter Bynner Foundation for bringing poetry into the classroom. Winner of the Pink Poetry Prize, and the Dogfish Head Poetry Prize, Whitaker served as a teaching artist with the Virginia Commission for the Arts. They authored a broadside with Broadsided Press, four chapbooks of poetry, and a novel.
Whit is a grant writer, educator, and co-sponsor of Pocomoke High School’s Poetry Out Loud Team, Drama club, and GSA. They are a member of the National Book Critics Circle, the editor-in-chief of The Broadkill Review, and live on the Eastern Shore with their family. Read more about her recent work, including readings, and publications at queer-the-wolf.com
Region
Eastern
Virginia City or County Affiliation
Accomack County
Years of Residence in Virginia
25
Current City/State of Residence
Onley, VA 23418
Gender
Non-binary
Race/Ethnicity
White
Year of Birth
1972
Keywords/Tags
lgbtq, environment, social justice, addiction
Website
Published Works or Performances
Barleyhouse Letters (Finishing Line Press, 2005)
Field Recordings (Bay Oak Publishers, 2006)
The Black Narrows (The Broadkill Press, 2013)
All My Rowdy Friends (PunksWritePoems Press, 2016)
"Late Summer Rabbit Hunting" (In Broadsided Press, 2019)
Mulch (Montag Press, 2023)
Wolf Devouring A Wolf Devouring A Wolf (Jackleg Press, forthcoming 2025)
Selected Individual Poems or Performances
“Shelter of the Wolf” Mississippi Review 50.3, 2023.
“To Get to the Queer Clinic I Have to Cross Three Bodies of Water” About Place Journal, 2023.
"States" Michigan Quarterly Review Volume 62, number 1, 2023.
“My Body is a Home For a Tiny Wolf”, Meridian, 2023.
“Wolf Suite” Conjunctions, 2022.
Cassandra Whitaker