About

I am a freelance reporter and essayist. I write about the intersections of culture, gender, and the outdoors — which, in practice, means that I frequently cover sports, science, and arts through the lens of climate and environment. (Occasionally, I’ve described my beat as “niche sports for girls.”) I am a regular contributor to the New York Times for Kids and W Magazine, and my work has also appeared in Outside Magazine, Climbing Magazine, Eater, Bon Appétit, Edible Queens, and others.

As an editor, my clients have included the New York Times, Condé Nast Traveler, W Magazine, Oregon Stater Magazine, and the Tribeca Film Festival. I recently edited the New York Times Magazine’s annual Puzzle Mania! special section.

I’m also a teaching artist. I have taught everything from elementary-school opinion workshops to university creative writing. This year, I am a writer-in-residence at Portland Public Schools through Literary Arts’s Writers in the Schools program, teaching nonfiction to high-schoolers across the city.

My work has been supported by the Bread Loaf Writers’ 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’m perpetually working on a manuscript about nature and performance.

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