Pictured are nine books in which her work is featured.
Happening Now
Cass was recently awarded the PEN America / L'Engle Rahman Prize for Mentorship. Special thanks to the Delaware Division of the Arts for interviewing her on their podcast.
Currently, she is completing a timely literary novel. More exciting news about that project and who will be representing it very soon...
Forthcoming
Cassandra''s personal essay, “Mother’s Day,” is included in the anthology, No Contact: Writers on Family Estrangement, edited by Jenny Bartoy, forthcoming from Catapult in April 2026.
Her creative nonfiction manuscript, The Biting Kind, is about mass incarceration, mental health, and the climate crisis. This manuscript was shortlisted for the SFWP Literary Awards, judged by Deesha Philyaw. Excerpts were recently published in the Modern Love Tiny Love Stories column of The New York Times and The Mail section of The New Yorker.
She was awarded a Participant Scholarship to attend the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers' Conference in June 2024, where she had the honor of workshopping an excerpt of her manuscript with the amazing Helen Macdonald. Cass is incorporating the insightful feedback she received, and looks forward to finding a publishing home for The Biting Kind. This project was also supported by the Tin House Winter Workshop and Millay Arts Wintertide.
Cass is a contributing writer at Broad Street Review, and plans to pursue more freelance journalism projects.
She is honored to have been invited as a writer in residence at Can Serrat in Spain.
Recent Notable Publications
PEN America website: Cass was named one of the recipients of the PEN America / L'Engle Rahman Prize for Mentorship. Read the essays here.
Electric Literature, "'No Offense' Reveals the Hidden Fees of Being Queer in a Straight World," an author interview with Jackie Domenus
Terrain.org, Book Review of In Inheritance of Drowning
The New York Times, Modern Love Tiny Love Stories, "Yearning for Tourmaline"
Broad Street Review, Book Review of Breaking the Curse
Broad Street Review, "An Exhibition for Restorative Justice: The Barnes Foundation and Mural Arts Philadelphia Present Visions"
The Rumpus, "Feeling My Way Along a Metaphorical Edge: A Conversation with Nancy Miller Gomez"
The Rumpus, "Writing Beyond the Bars: A Mini Interview with Geneva Phillips" (This interview was also featured in PEN America's Works of Justice newsletter.)
The New Yorker, "The Mail" section, Letter on philanthropy, "Gift Horse”
Dramatic Question "Irresistible," a one-page play, a standoff between a plant and a cat.
Broad Street Review, “Can Arts Education Save American Democracy?” (This essay was also featured in Arts Journal.)
The Belladonna Comedy, "I'm Hosting a Writer's Residency in my Backyard Shed"
Brief Biography
Cassandra Lewis is an award-winning writer. Her nonfiction and plays have been included in 10 books. Her personal essay is included in the anthology, No Contact: Writers on Family Estrangement, edited by Jenny Bartoy, forthcoming from Catapult. She has contributed to several other publications, such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, Electric Literature, Terrain.org, The Rumpus, Broad Street Review, The Belladonna Comedy, Mutha Magazine, Head Stuff, Boston Literary Magazine, and NYC Playwrights.
Her plays have been produced in London, New York, Dublin, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other cities. She served as an adjudicator for the Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre and was shortlisted for the London-based Alpine Fellowship Theatre Prize. She received an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. Cass earned an MFA in Writing from New College of California in San Francisco and completed The University of Iowa’s Irish Writing Program in Dublin, Ireland.
She is a Writing Mentor for PEN America’s Prison and Justice Writing Program and was just awarded the PEN America / L'Engle Rahman Prize for Mentorship. Cass is currently at work on a book about mental health, mass incarceration, and the climate crisis, which made the most recent SFWP Literary Awards Short List, judged by Deesha Philyaw.
Cass was recently awarded the PEN America / L'Engle Rahman Prize for Mentorship. Special thanks to the Delaware Division of the Arts for interviewing her on their podcast.
Currently, she is completing a timely literary novel. More exciting news about that project and who will be representing it very soon...
Forthcoming
Cassandra''s personal essay, “Mother’s Day,” is included in the anthology, No Contact: Writers on Family Estrangement, edited by Jenny Bartoy, forthcoming from Catapult in April 2026.
Her creative nonfiction manuscript, The Biting Kind, is about mass incarceration, mental health, and the climate crisis. This manuscript was shortlisted for the SFWP Literary Awards, judged by Deesha Philyaw. Excerpts were recently published in the Modern Love Tiny Love Stories column of The New York Times and The Mail section of The New Yorker.
She was awarded a Participant Scholarship to attend the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers' Conference in June 2024, where she had the honor of workshopping an excerpt of her manuscript with the amazing Helen Macdonald. Cass is incorporating the insightful feedback she received, and looks forward to finding a publishing home for The Biting Kind. This project was also supported by the Tin House Winter Workshop and Millay Arts Wintertide.
Cass is a contributing writer at Broad Street Review, and plans to pursue more freelance journalism projects.
She is honored to have been invited as a writer in residence at Can Serrat in Spain.
Recent Notable Publications
PEN America website: Cass was named one of the recipients of the PEN America / L'Engle Rahman Prize for Mentorship. Read the essays here.
Electric Literature, "'No Offense' Reveals the Hidden Fees of Being Queer in a Straight World," an author interview with Jackie Domenus
Terrain.org, Book Review of In Inheritance of Drowning
The New York Times, Modern Love Tiny Love Stories, "Yearning for Tourmaline"
Broad Street Review, Book Review of Breaking the Curse
Broad Street Review, "An Exhibition for Restorative Justice: The Barnes Foundation and Mural Arts Philadelphia Present Visions"
The Rumpus, "Feeling My Way Along a Metaphorical Edge: A Conversation with Nancy Miller Gomez"
The Rumpus, "Writing Beyond the Bars: A Mini Interview with Geneva Phillips" (This interview was also featured in PEN America's Works of Justice newsletter.)
The New Yorker, "The Mail" section, Letter on philanthropy, "Gift Horse”
Dramatic Question "Irresistible," a one-page play, a standoff between a plant and a cat.
Broad Street Review, “Can Arts Education Save American Democracy?” (This essay was also featured in Arts Journal.)
The Belladonna Comedy, "I'm Hosting a Writer's Residency in my Backyard Shed"
Brief Biography
Cassandra Lewis is an award-winning writer. Her nonfiction and plays have been included in 10 books. Her personal essay is included in the anthology, No Contact: Writers on Family Estrangement, edited by Jenny Bartoy, forthcoming from Catapult. She has contributed to several other publications, such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, Electric Literature, Terrain.org, The Rumpus, Broad Street Review, The Belladonna Comedy, Mutha Magazine, Head Stuff, Boston Literary Magazine, and NYC Playwrights.
Her plays have been produced in London, New York, Dublin, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other cities. She served as an adjudicator for the Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre and was shortlisted for the London-based Alpine Fellowship Theatre Prize. She received an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. Cass earned an MFA in Writing from New College of California in San Francisco and completed The University of Iowa’s Irish Writing Program in Dublin, Ireland.
She is a Writing Mentor for PEN America’s Prison and Justice Writing Program and was just awarded the PEN America / L'Engle Rahman Prize for Mentorship. Cass is currently at work on a book about mental health, mass incarceration, and the climate crisis, which made the most recent SFWP Literary Awards Short List, judged by Deesha Philyaw.