About

I am a freelance reporter and essayist. I write about the intersections of pop culture and the outdoors, focusing on books, film, music, and sports through the lens of climate and the environment. My work has appeared or is forthcoming in the New York Times, Outside Magazine, Longreads, and many others. I’m also an occasional editor and teaching artist; as a writer-in-residence through Literary Arts’ Writers in the Schools program, I teach nonfiction and journalism to high-school students across Portland.

A 2025 recipient of the Oregon Literary Fellowship, I’ve also earned grants and residencies by the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers’ and Translators’ Conferences, the Spring Creek Project, Hypatia-in-the-Woods, and the Oregon State University President’s Commission on the Status of Women. I hold an MFA in creative writing from Oregon State University, where I was awarded the university’s graduate prize in nonfiction, and a BA in comparative literature from Brown University.

I write a lot about obsessions. Some of my own, at the moment: the history of professional wrestling, the intersection of nature and performance, and Superfund sites.

Want to work together? You can reach me at katherine.e.cusumano[at]gmail.com.