I started my career as a writer and editor on staff at the Philadelphia Weekly, where my column “The Dubliner,” a chronicle of a year I spent living in Ireland, was recognized for excellence in column writing by the Association of Alternative Newsmedia. For several years after that I was a regular contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, mainly as a book critic but also as a reporter. In a biweekly column called “DigitaLit” I looked at new ideas like interactive novels, computer-generated poetry, and other places where traditional storytelling and tech intersected. 

Since that time I have published personal and critical essays in many other publications, including the Utne Reader, Adbusters, Philadelphia Magazine, Rain Taxi, The Millions, The Comics Journal, The Believer Logger, and the anthologies My Red Couch (Wipf & Stock) and The Alternative Media Handbook (Routledge).

I am also a longtime zine maker and a great believer in the power of this kind of self-publishing. I found the punk community back in 2004 after I made my first zine, a collection of poems called “Word Math,” and brought it to the Philly Zine Fest. I met people there who were interested in my work, and equally interested in sharing theirs with me; a true connection was made, and for the first time I felt that my solitary pursuits had led me to a place of belonging. 

Through my involvement with zines I met the good people at Microcosm Publishing, who have now published several of my books: a memoir called White Elephants; a collection of essays about language called Slip of the Tongue; Cats I’ve Known, an illustrated collection of stories about cats; and Kitchen Witch, a how-to guide for natural remedies and crafts that I wrote with my friend Nadine. My most recent book is an anthology I edited called Cat Party!, which is packed full of vibrant contributions by a few dozen artists and writers. 

I used to have a horror of public speaking but I kept on doing it anyway, and now I sometimes even enjoy it a little. I’m proud to have given readings or talks at Ladyfest Philly, the Portland Book Festival, the Radar Reading Series in San Francisco, and the NY Art Book Fair at MoMA PS1; on a few different public radio and TV stations; and in a great many DIY spaces. 

I am also proud, and very grateful, to have done writer’s residencies at the Anchor Archive in Halifax, Nova Scotia; Gröndalshús in Reykjavík, Iceland; and Cloud Croft Studios in New York’s southern tier. Currently I’m sitting at home, working on a collection of blackout poems tentatively called “looking for god.”