Today we’d like to introduce you to Katherine Vondy
Hi Katherine, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I think I first started to consider myself a writer in high school. It was the ’90s and coffeehouses were cool and I had some artsier older friends who started organizing them. They began in the cafeteria of my high school and eventually turned into regular events at a local coffee shop, where they became a mainstay of my social life. I found myself writing poetry to read at the coffeehouses during my freshman year, and then I signed up to take creative writing as an elective the year after that. By the time I was a senior I was the editor of my high school’s literary magazine, and I felt it was a pretty large part of my identity.
In the decades since then I’ve done a lot of different kinds of creative projects. Most recently, I was at the Krakow Film Festival for the premiere of a documentary feature I produced, IN A WINTRY SEASON, directed by Mary Posatko. Just before that, I had a reading of my latest play, THREE CITIES, as part of The Vagrancy’s new play festival. I’ve published short stories in a number of literary magazines, including The Iowa Review, The Pinch, The Potomac Review, and The South Carolina Review. I even had a small role acting in an indie film alongside Sally Struthers (check out YOU & ME to verify my claim!). But although I’ve worked in many different capacities, I think they all ultimately connect back to how I started to see myself as a writer and storyteller at a formative age.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has been neither a smooth nor a direct road, and I don’t expect that it will get smoother or more direct in the future. How could it? I don’t know where the road is going!
I think many creative people would say that one of the biggest challenges is the need to balance creative work (usually low-paying) with having to pay for rent and buy groceries and go to the doctor (usually high-cost), and I’m certainly no exception. I had a full-time day job for the past fifteen years, but I recently left it in order to produce a narrative feature film, which is gearing up to shoot as I write this. After we wrap, my plan is to see how long I’m able to make a living through freelance work, which I hope will have more flexibility in terms of allowing me to do more creative projects–but I’m very aware that I may well have to find another day job in the not-too-distant future.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I consider myself primarily a writer, but I also occasionally direct and produce. In general, I’m drawn to stories that have an element of tragicomedy: I enjoy juxtaposing the hilarious and the heartbreaking. A lot of my work tends to be in that vein.
I’m incredibly lucky to have been able to lead The Vagrancy’s Writers’ Group for the past several years, and I’m extremely proud of all the plays that have come out of that program. There are so many wonderful pieces of theater that might never have existed if it weren’t for our development process, and it’s been very fulfilling to be a part of their origin stories. It feels like the plays that have emerged from the program are my nieces and nephews!
What makes you happy?
Travel is a big one. I recently spent a month in Sweden, at an artists’ residency in Gothenburg called Konstepidemin, and it was a highlight of my year. I was there to work on a new novel, and I definitely did a lot of writing–but the residency also gave me the opportunity to get to know the city in a deeper way than I would have if I were only a tourist. I hit all the tourist hotspots, of course–I went to Feskekörka (the Fish Church) and took a boat out to the archipelago and went to the Midsommar festival at Slottskogen (the Castle Forest)–but I also got to spend a lot of time just walking around different neighborhoods and going to different cafes for fika (the traditional Swedish coffee break).
It’s trite, but I truly find travel to be inspiring; I often get ideas for new stories or new plays when I’m in new places. (Sometimes I even manage to write those stories and plays!) I also like the challenge of learning to function in a new environment. It makes me feel more confident when I’m able to figure out how to enjoy being in an unfamiliar place.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://katherinevondy.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katherinevondy/
Image Credits
Main picture:
1) Hillary Baack
Additional photos:
1) Publicity poster/The Vagrancy
2) Publicity poster/IN A WINTRY SEASON
3) Katherine Vondy
4) Faberllull Olot & Escola Oficial D’Idiomes D’Olot & Ripoll
