Interview with Cat Ruiz Part 1

Cat Ruiz (also known as Cat Ruiz Kigerl) is a Seattle-born poet, humanities educator, and writer best known for her award-winning debut poetry collection, Stirring Up the Water (2008).Background and EducationBorn and raised in Seattle, Washington.Taught humanities—ranging from Impressionism to street art—and college English and writing in northern California’s Siskiyou County.Deeply influenced by meditative and mystical traditions, including a long-standing Zen practice.Major WorksStirring Up the Water (Salt Publishing, 2008): Her first full-length collection, part of the Earthworks Series, which won the Native Writer’s Circle of the Americas First Book Award for Poetry.At the Town Café (Goldfish Press, 2016): Her second poetry collection.Beach Notes: The pandemic surges yet there is tranquility (TwoNewfs Publishing, 2020): A later collection reflecting on the COVID-19 pandemic.Contributed short fiction to the anthology New Halem Tales (2012)