Kathleen Flenniken began her career as a civil engineer and didn't discover poetry until her early 30s. Her most recent collection, Post Romantic (University of Washington Press, 2020) was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award. Her collection, Plume (University of Washington Press, 2012), a meditation on the Hanford Nuclear Site and her home town of Richland, Washington, won the Washington State Book Award and was a finalist for the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America and the Pacific Northwest Book Awards. Her first book, Famous (University of Nebraska Press, 2006), won the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry and was named a Notable Book by the American Library Association. Her other honors include a Pushcart Prize and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and Artist Trust. She was the 2012–2014 Washington State Poet Laureate.
Kathleen teaches poetry in the schools through arts agencies like Writers in the Schools and Jack Straw, and Seattle University. For 13 years Flenniken was an editor at Floating Bridge Press, a nonprofit press dedicated to publishing Washington State poets. She currently serves on the board of Jack Straw, an audio arts studio and cultural center. Flenniken holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from Pacific Lutheran University, as well as bachelor's and master's degrees in civil engineering.
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