Cat Pleska, a native West Virginian, is an award-winning author, educator, and storyteller. Her memoir, Riding on Comets was published by West Virginia University Press. Cat edited four anthologies and her stories and essays have appeared in The Appalachian Heritage Anthologies, Still: The Journal, Heartwood Magazine, Change 7 Magazine, and many others. She teaches in […]
“Alight: Flights of Prose” by Rachael Peckham
May 1, 2023 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Cat Pleska Rachael Peckham’s memoir in essays circles readers around the tragedy that befell her family. Her maternal grandfather and two uncles perished in a plane crash not far from their Clearwater, Michigan, farm in 1976. Alight: Flights of Prose (Uncollected Press, 2022) examines the long-term effects of this loss. On a short […]
“Rich crop of women’s anthologies published in 2019, the International Year of the Woman,” Essay by Donna Meredith
April 15, 2020 by Leave a Comment
Essay by Donna Meredith Maybe they arose from the Fourth Wave of feminism that took hold in 2013, a movement focused on female empowerment. Perhaps they were further nourished by the “Me Too” movement that arose in 2017. No matter the source of inspiration, two important new collections of works by women found their way […]
“Riding on Comets,” by Cat Pleska
August 23, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Donna Meredith Though her family was hardly perfect, Cat Pleska leaves readers feeling uplifted rather than grungy from being dragged through the dirty laundry in her memoir, Riding on Comets. In part, the warm tone results because she never doubted that her parents wanted the best for her. Without words, they implied that she […]