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Katerina Fretwell

 

Member profile details

Membership level
Full
First name
Katerina
Last name
Fretwell
Country
Canada
 

ABOUT

Profile picture
Biography
Katerina (Vaughan) Fretwell was born in New York City in 1944. Poet, artist, journalist, reviewer, and former registered social worker, she's a full member of the League and of CARFAC Ontario. She's taught poetry from kindergarten to Dalhousie's English 100 and Creative Writing in Dartmouth's Adult Education. She has given poetry readings from Halifax to Vancouver. She performed in the Cabaret at the League of Canadian Poets/Playwrights Union of Canada 1994 AGM, was featured in the TV show in Toronto called "Motions In Poetry", and on Susan Helwig's "In Other Words" on CKLN Radio Toronto. Her "Quartzite Dialogues" poems were set to music by Michael Horwood & mounted twice at the Festival of the Sound in 1999 and at 25th Anniversary, 2004, and at the Takefu Music Centre in Japan, 1999. She chaired the League's Lowther Jury, 2005-2006 and edited two anthologies for the Living Archives series, 2005 and 2007. She lives in St Catharines,Ontario with her Maine Coon Cat Hnery. Her ancestor is the 17th century Welsh mystic poet, Henry Vaughan.
 

PUBLICATIONS AND RECOGNITION

Books and other publications
BOOKS:
Familiar and Forgiveness, Ace of Swords, 2024
Holy in My Nature, Silver Bow Publishing, 2024
We Are Malala, Inanna, 2018
Dancing on a Pin, Inanna, 2015
Class Acts, Inanna, 2013
Angelic Scintillations, Inanna 2011
Samsara: Canadian In Asia, Pendas Productions, 2008
Shaking Hands with the Night, Pendas Productions 2004
Remyth, Cranberry Tree Press, 1997
Apple, Worm and All, Fiddlehead Poetry Books, 1979
The Ultimate Contact, Fiddlehead Poetry Books, 1978
SELECTED ANTHOLOGIES:
Transitory Tango, Ronnie Brown editor, 2017
Jack Layton: Art in Action, Quattro, Penn Kemp editor 2013
Crossing Lines: Poets who came to Canada in the Vietnam Era, Briesmaster and Burrs, editors, Seraphim, 2008
Feminist Caucus 25th Anniversary Anthology, Arms Like Ladders, Editor, Living Archives, 2007.
Toccata, Cranberry Tree Press, 2006.
And no one knows the blood we share, Editor, Living Archives, 2005.
Urban/Rural Women Writing Place, LCP, Maja Bannerman, ed., 1996.
Mix Six, 6-poet anthology, Mekler & Deahl, 1996.
Close To The Heart, Breast Cancer Anthology, Sept. 6, '96 launch.
Licking Honey Off a Thorn, (W)rites of Spring, LCP, Sudbury, 1996.
Polestar Visions, Elizabeth St. Jacques, Judge & CAA Temiskaming, 1997.
Inviting the Incubus, Kissing the Succubi: the Muse in Canadian Women's Poetry, Living Archives, 2005
SELECTED JOURNALS: Prism international, Scintilla, The Pittsburgh Quarterly, Descant, Bogg, Prairie fire, Fiddlehead, Antigonish Review, Windsor Review, Rampike, The Capilano Review, CV2
Awards and other achievements
Serpentine Renewal, Honourable Mention, CAA's The Bannister, KV Skene, judge, 2017
Dancing on a Pin: IFOA Battle of the Bards, long-listed for Lowther Prize, five poems placed
Runner Up in subTerrain's Outsider Poetry Contest
Kissing Cousins Sestina: finalist for Descant Wilson Collins Prize, 2012
Class Acts: in Kerry Clare's 49th Shelf, Most notable poetry books of 2013
Writers Federation of Nova Scotia, honourable mention, poetry, 1977, 1979.
Cross-Canada Writers Quarterly, finalist, poetry, 1983-86, 1989.
BS Nova Scotia Poetry Awards, honourable mention, 1990.
CAA's Northern Ontario Poetry Competition, First Prize, 1997.
Artfocus 10th Annual Art Show, Watercolour, First Prize, Toronto, 2001.
Poetic forms and styles
  • Ghazal
  • Glosa
  • Haiku
  • Long poem
  • Print poetry
  • Prose poetry
  • Sestina
  • Sonnet
Other writing expertise
  • Journalism
  • Reviews
Additional writing experience
Fine Art painting
Choral tenor, Riversong Choir, Parry Sound School of Music, Parry Sound Singers, Wells College Choir, Dobbs Glee Club
Reviewer, literary and cultural, Arc online, Prairie Fire, Germination
 

BOOK THIS POET TODAY

Contact poet directly
Katerina Fretwell, 504-33 Leaside Drive, St. Catharines, ON, L2M 4G2
Phone: 905-934-5549
Email: kfretwell@cogeco.ca
Poets in the Schools, readings





Born in NYC in 1944, Fretwell has a BA (sociology), an MSW (social work) and most of an honours BA in English. Poet, artist, teacher, journalist, Fretwell has taught poetry to all levels from kindergarten to University level, adult education and young authors conferences. She has two books of poetry published by Fiddlehead Press, poems in 42 international journals including Prism international, Descant, The Windsor Review, Bogg, Rampike, and the Pittsburgh Quarterly, and has read in Halifax, Fredericton, Kingston, Montreal, Toronto, London and Winnipeg. She has been on Motions in Poetry, a TV broadcast and the radio programme In Other Words, and she is anthologized in Dry Wells of India. Her book Remyth published by Cranberry Tree Press includes fairytales and legends and may be of interest to school children.

Grade Levels: all

Fees: standard

Classroom Approach:
Experience in teaching all levels and grades has convinced Fretwell that an atmosphere of spontaneous discovery releases creative flow. To foster this mood, Fretwell first reads her own and sometimes other's work, then involves students through collective and individual exercises in critiquing and creating poetry. Together, she and students (and teacher if desirous) explore the oral/musical, visual/concrete, and kinetic/performance aspects of poetry. If so desired and possible, students create their own literary magazine.
Poets in the Schools (Ontario)
  • Poets in the Schools (primary grades)
  • Poets in the Schools (middle grades)
  • Poets in the Schools (senior grades)
International bookings
Read and taught poetry and exhibited my art in Copenhagen, invited by Heather Spears, 1996
Quartzite Dialogues performed at Takefu Music Centre, Tokyo, 1999