Forthcoming
The Biting Kind is a creative nonfiction manuscript about mass incarceration, mental health, and the climate crisis. This manuscript was just shortlisted for the SFWP Literary Awards, judged by Deesha Philyaw, and is currently being considered for publication. An abbreviated excerpt was just published in the Modern Love Tiny Love Stories column of The New York Times.
Cass 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 Workshop and Millay Arts.
Her personal essay, “Mother’s Day,” is included in the anthology, Broken Free: Writers on Estrangement, edited by Jenny Bartoy, forthcoming from Catapult.
Cass is a contributing writer at Broad Street Review, and plans to pursue more freelance journalism projects this year. She is currently at work on a book review for Terrain and an author interview for Electric Literature.
She is honored to be a May 2025 writer in residence at Can Serrat in Catalonia.
Recent Notable Publications
The New York Times, Modern Love Tiny Love Stories, "Yearning for Tourmaline"
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. She has contributed to or has work forthcoming in several other publications, such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, Electric Literature, Terrain, 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 currently at work on a book about mental health, mass incarceration, and the climate crisis, which just made the SFWP Literary Awards Short List.
The Biting Kind is a creative nonfiction manuscript about mass incarceration, mental health, and the climate crisis. This manuscript was just shortlisted for the SFWP Literary Awards, judged by Deesha Philyaw, and is currently being considered for publication. An abbreviated excerpt was just published in the Modern Love Tiny Love Stories column of The New York Times.
Cass 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 Workshop and Millay Arts.
Her personal essay, “Mother’s Day,” is included in the anthology, Broken Free: Writers on Estrangement, edited by Jenny Bartoy, forthcoming from Catapult.
Cass is a contributing writer at Broad Street Review, and plans to pursue more freelance journalism projects this year. She is currently at work on a book review for Terrain and an author interview for Electric Literature.
She is honored to be a May 2025 writer in residence at Can Serrat in Catalonia.
Recent Notable Publications
The New York Times, Modern Love Tiny Love Stories, "Yearning for Tourmaline"
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. She has contributed to or has work forthcoming in several other publications, such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, Electric Literature, Terrain, 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 currently at work on a book about mental health, mass incarceration, and the climate crisis, which just made the SFWP Literary Awards Short List.