Kathleen Latham is a poet and short fiction writer who lives outside of Boston, MA. Twice nominated for Best Small Fictions and once for Best of the Net, her work has also received the Bridport Prize (Highly Commended), the Bath Flash Fiction Award, and the Writer’s Digest Short Short Story Competition Grand Prize. Her debut poetry collection The Ones (Kelsay Books, 2024) was an Eric Hoffer Book Award nominee. Kathleen has been short or longlisted by such publications as Fractured Lit, The Masters Review, Msxlexia, New Flash Fiction Review, Reflex Fiction, and The Southeast Review. You can follow her at @lathamwithapen or through the social media links below.
recent news
Check out my Events page for upcoming readings!
3/12/26
A HUGE thank you to Gill James, the editor at Bridge House Publishing in the UK, for choosing my micro “My Mother Gives Me And My Brother Safety Tips Before A Night On The Town” for inclusion in the The Best of CafeLit 15 anthology. Just got the proofs, and I’m honored to be among such great writing.
2/3/26
Thrilled to hear that my poem “Taking Care of Dad, After Mom" was selected to be in one of Eclectica’s 30th Anniversary anthologies. Release date expected some time this year.
For the Love of Words
Easton Community Access Television
A HUGE thank you to John Holgerson, long-time champions of poets, for inviting me to appear on his show For the Love of Words. It was an honor to be interviewed by John and to perform a lengthy reading. Special thanks to Adam Carreiro at ECAT for his camera work and editing. The show aired 8/22/25 and can now be found on YouTube. Links to my episode are in the photo or the title above and include a musical performance by Don Hammontree. You can also check out other episodes of the show on its YouTube page.
It’s been a while!
Between my renewed focus on revising my novel manuscript and the debut of my poetry collection (and all the fun that came after), I went six months without senidng anything new out. Then I stumbled upon a micro piece I wrote last year just sitting in a file, took a shot, and was lucky enough to find it a home in Cafe Lit Magazine. You can read “My Mother Gives Me And My Brother Safety Tips Before A Night On The Town” here.
Cafe Lit asks authors to name a drink that would go with the story. I chose a marmelade sour (which the internet assures me is a thing) because it’s bracing and slightly bitter. Kind of like the story.
2/14/25
My new poem “Remembrance” was one of ten poems chosen by Mass Poetry to appear on their website for an Anti-Valentine’s Day post. You can read the poems here.
2/11/25
A HUGE thank you to Kelsay Books for nominating The Ones for the Eric Hoffer Book Award in Poetry!! I’m honored and privileged to be among so many amazing nominees.
“The Eric Hoffer Book Award honors the memory of the great American philosopher Eric Hoffer by highlighting salient writing, as well as the independent spirit of small publishers. Since its inception, the Hoffer has become one of the largest international book awards for small, academic, and independent presses.”
11/30/24
Check out my latest Creative Nonfiction piece “On the Day of the Snake, I Knew Nothing” in the current issue of Emerge Literary Journal. It’s a brief exploration of the self-centeredness of memory inspired by one of the strongest women I know. You can read it here.
11/25/24
A huge thank you to the 3,835 people who entered my Goodreads giveaway and congratulations to the winners! Books are on their way to Erlanger, KY; Weatherford, TX; Pittsburgh, PA; Crestview, FL; Fulton, NY; and Brick, NJ!!
10/19/2024
It’s here! My debut poetry collection The Ones is now out in the world! My heartfelt thanks to everyone at Kelsay Books for making this dream come true. Click on the book for direct link to Amazon or get more information via my Books tab.
5/24/24
It was a tremendous honor to read my poem “Again and Again and Again” during the wedding ceremony of Josh Belinsky and Ally Dorsey in Gloucester, MA. For everyone who asked for a copy of the poem, thank you, thank you! You can find it under the Poetry Tab above listed as “Poem for a Wedding.”
“Gavin would return to those fragments obsessively, worry them in his palm like stones—searching over and over for the why of things...”
photo: Sheila Jellison
old news, but good news…
9/5/24
Beyond honored that The Ilanot Review nominated my story "Brightly, Brightly" for Best of the Net! Truly speechless to have been chosen out of the sea of wonderful work they publish. It’s a sad tale inspired by real events. Mostly it's about love, though, and the things we do as parents. The story can be read here.
I won a Bridport Prize!! Thank you, thank you, thank you to the Bridport Arts Center and judge Christopher Allen for honoring my flash fiction piece “Anna Wonders Whether Birds Will Build a Nest with Cat Hair” with a Highly Commended Prize. Beyond honored to travel to Dorset, England to receive this prestigious award on its 50th anniversary. An absolutely joyful experience. You can see all the winners here and purchase a copy of the Bridport Prize 2023 Anthology here.
8/30/23
Two poems, “Nantasket Beach” (for Jack, 1995-2016) and “Notes on a Missing Son” appearing in The Comstock Review, Vol. 37.1 Spring/Summer 2023. “Gift” coming in Fall/Winter. Available with subscription at comstockreview.org
7/29/23
Beyond honored that my story “Men Like Them (Marks Park, Sydney, 1988)” made the top ten in New Flash Fiction Review’s 2023 flash contest. This story was written in memory of the 85+ victims of gay-hate homicides near Australia's Bondi-Tamarama cliffs from the 1970’s to the 1990’s and inspired by Steve Johnson’s pursuit for justice for his brother. A dark, but important, story.
You can read my story here and link to the other shortlist stories here.
4/26/23
The Masters Review Anthology Vol. XI is finally here! A huge thank you to the legendary Peter Ho Davies for choosing my story "Barely a Sound" to be part of the collection. Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org!
4/18/23
Woo hoo! My flash piece “Rattlesnake” was shortlisted for the Fish Flash Fiction Prize.
4/6/23
Absolutely thrilled to announce that I’ve made The Welkin Writing Prize shortlist! My story (which will remain anonymous until the end) was one of 20 selected from over 1,200 stories from 55 countries. This one has me dancing for joy!
3/29/23
Honored to be one of the authors to make the Fractured Lit Anthology Prize longlist!
1/1/23
Brilliant start to 2023! Thank you to Reflex Press for placing my story "Rats" on the longlist of their final flash fiction contest. Honored beyond belief to be listed with so many writers I recognize and admire.
“This is our meal.
Words picked clean.
Bones of emotion
sucked of their marrow...”
11/30/22
Honored beyond belief to be named a Best Small Fictions nominee by Bath Flash Fiction Awards. Thank you BFFA!
11/18/22
Thrilled to have my flash piece "Rattlesnake" longlisted for
Mslexia's 2022 Flash Fiction Competition!
Mslexia: The UK's bestselling magazine for women who write
10/31/22
Absolutely gobsmacked that my story “Fourth Grade Science Lesson, Chickasaw City, Alabama” came in Third for the Bath Flash Fiction Award!! Chosen from over 1,250 entries from 38 different countries, the top stories are amazing this round. You can read them here and read the comments from contest judge Emily Devane here. So honored to be included.
3/19/22
Thrilled to announce that my latest poem “When Your Mother Suggests Scrapbooking as a Form of Therapy” tied for Second Place in Oprelle Publications’ “Into Pieces” poetry contest! You can read the winners and see the finalists here (Warning: if you read on your phone, please ignore the weird line breaks that show up…they shouldn’t be there.)
12/20/21
Finishing the year in gratitude to Spider Road Press for nominating my microfiction piece “Dolores Tells Charlie She’s Going to the Gym” for the 2021 Best Small Fiction Anthology by Sonder Press.
“Dolores…” also appears in PARE, a Spider Road Press zine that raises funds for organizations that combat domestic violence and sexual assault.
May 19, 2021
So excited to share that my 100-word piece “Dolores Tells Charlie She’s Going to the Gym” won Spider Road Press’s Web Microfiction Prize for Women Writers. Publication coming in September!
7/07/20
Just found out my unpublished poetry chapbook Running Into an Ex received second place in Chestnut Review’s Chapbook Contest! A poem from the chapbook will be published by Chestnut Review soon.
“I confess to Googling you on occasion, but unless you are an overweight bagpipe player or twenty-year-old hipster with neck tattoos and a bolo tie, I don’t think I’ve found you…”
from "ALL NEW IMAGES" in Tipton Poetry Journal, Winter 2019
March 2019
Ecstatic that the first four pages of my long-forsaken, unfinished novel were short-listed for the 2019 Stockholm Writers Festival First Pages Prize. Making the Top 11 out of 580+ entries is an incredible honor and just the kick in the seat I need to dust the manuscript off.
march 2018
My first foray into Creative Nonfiction, Breakfast with the Innkeeper, was published in the online literary magazine Hedge Apple on February 28. Written in response to a call for creative works related to the theme of food, the essay can be found here.
“The innkeeper starts to cry at breakfast.
He’s telling me the story of his incarcerated brother over plates of French toast and fruit diced so small the cantaloupe is the same size as the blueberries.
”