Catherine Young

Catherine Young is a disabled writer and performing artist whose work is infused with a keen sense of place. She is author of the ecopoetry collection Geosmin (Midwest Book Award) and the environmental memoir Black Diamonds: A Childhood Colored by Coal (Torrey House Press). Her work appears internationally and nationally in literary journals and anthologies. Catherine was a recent Wisconsin Poet Laureate Finalist and was the 2025 recipient of the Write On Door County Dick Scuglik Ekphrastic Residency. Catherine worked as a national park ranger, ecologist, farmer, and mother before devoting herself to her writing. She leads place and nature writing workshops and is Producer of the Landward podcast. Rooted in farm life, Catherine lives in Wisconsin where she is totally in love with meandering streams. She deeply believes in the use of story and art as tools for transforming the world.