About

Curator, writer, editor, wonderer. 

Kascha Semonovitch is a proud dilettante. She has a PhD in philosophy, an MA in philosophy and the arts, and an MFA in poetry, and she had fun with all of it. She’s worked as a graphic designer, a museum docent, a lecturer in philosophy, a freelance writer, and currently curates a small Seattle gallery, The Vestibule  In 2023, she was nominated for the Washington State Curator’s Roster. Her writing has appeared in many literary journals including Quarterly West, The Bellingham Review, The Kenyon Review, The Account, and in the chapbook Genesis by Dancing Girl Press. She received a MacDowell Fellowship, a UCross Foundation residency, and her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She is the co-editor of two collections of philosophical essays Phenomenologies of the Stranger, Fordham University Press, 2011 and Merleau-Ponty At the Limits, Continuum Press, 2009. 

She likes: mountains, ferry rides, her kiddos, lattes, and popular science books that mention neutron stars.

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image courtesy of James Arzente photography

EDUCATION 

Boston College – Ph.D. Philosophy, 2009.

Warren Wilson College – MFA, Poetry 2010.

Stonybrook University – MA Philosophy and the Arts, 2005.

Dartmouth College – BA English Literature and Creative Writing, 2001, cum laude.

HONORS AND RESIDENCIES

WA State curator roster, 2023-2027.

Pushcart Prize, nominee 2019.

MacDowell Fellow, 2013.

UCross Foundation Fellow, 2011.

Best New Poets 2009, Kenyon Review.
Stephen Dunn Prize in Poetry, Honorable Mention, Broome Review, 2009.
Peter Taylor Fellow. Kenyon Review Writer’s Workshop, June 2008.
Bradley-Fortin Research Grant. Boston College, 2007.
Academy of American Poets Prize, Dartmouth College, 2001.

Sexton Prize, Long-listed, Eyewear Press, 2017.
Glimmer Train, Honorable Mention, Fiction Open, 2017.

TEACHING

Hugo House, Teacher. 2018-present.

Seattle University. Core Philosophy Lecturer, full-time. 2009-2015.

Boston College. Philosophy Lecturer. 2007-2009.

ARTS AND CULTURE

The Vestibule. Curator. (Learn more about this nontraditional art gallery. )

4Culture. On-Site Reviewer.

Gallery Guide and Docent, Frye Museum.