Happening Now
Cass was awarded a book contract by SFWP for her novel, GRIEF CAMP, which will be published in fall 2027. Her manuscript was included on the 2025 Santa Fe Writers Literary Awards Short List, judged by Deesha Philyaw. This year, SFWP received nearly 1,700 entries.
Her personal essay, "Mother's Day," was chosen as a finalist in the nonfiction category of the 2026 Tucson Festival of Books Literary Awards competition. As a finalist, Cass has been invited to attend the Masters Workshop at the University of Arizona in March 2026.
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.
Forthcoming
Cassandra's personal essay, “Mother’s Day,” is included in the anthology, No Contact: Writers on Estrangement, edited by Jenny Bartoy, forthcoming from Catapult in April 2026. She is thrilled to have her work featured alongside pieces by Nick Flynn, Cheryl Strayed, Deesha Philyaw, and other writers she admires. This anthology was listed by The Seattle Times as "A Most Anticipated Book of the Year" and described by Ocean Vuong as "A landmark work."
Cass is currently working on her creative nonfiction manuscript, THE BITING KIND, which is about mental health, homelessness, mass incarceration, and the climate crisis. This manuscript was shortlisted for the 2024 SFWP Literary Awards. Her writing that relates to some of the themes in this manuscript was 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, where she had the honor of workshopping part of THE BITING KIND with the amazing Helen Macdonald. This project also received support from the Tin House Winter Workshop and Millay Arts Wintertide.
Cass is a contributing writer at Philadelphia's Broad Street Review, and looks forward to pursuing more journalism projects.
She is honored to have been invited as a writer in residence at Can Serrat in Spain and the Vermont Studio Center.
Recent Notable Publications
Broad Street Review, "Writers and Artists Lead America's Nonviolent Fight for Justice"
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 debut novel, GRIEF CAMP, will be published by SFWP in 2027. Her personal essay, "Mother's Day," is included in the anthology, No Contact: Writers on Estrangement, edited by Jenny Bartoy, forthcoming from Catapult. She has contributed to several anthologies and 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, The Village Voice, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and NYC Playwrights.
Her plays have been produced in London, New York, Dublin, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other cities. She was shortlisted for the London-based Alpine Fellowship Theatre Prize and served as an adjudicator for the Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre for five years. 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. Her work has also received support from the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers' Conference, Tin House Winter Workshop, Millay Arts Wintertide, Can Serrat, and Vermont Studio Center.
She is a Writing Mentor for PEN America’s Prison and Justice Writing Program and was awarded the PEN America / L'Engle Rahman Prize for Mentorship. Cass is currently working on her manuscript, THE BITING KIND, about mental health, homelessness, mass incarceration, and the climate crisis, which made the 2024 SFWP Literary Awards Short List.
Cass was awarded a book contract by SFWP for her novel, GRIEF CAMP, which will be published in fall 2027. Her manuscript was included on the 2025 Santa Fe Writers Literary Awards Short List, judged by Deesha Philyaw. This year, SFWP received nearly 1,700 entries.
Her personal essay, "Mother's Day," was chosen as a finalist in the nonfiction category of the 2026 Tucson Festival of Books Literary Awards competition. As a finalist, Cass has been invited to attend the Masters Workshop at the University of Arizona in March 2026.
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.
Forthcoming
Cassandra's personal essay, “Mother’s Day,” is included in the anthology, No Contact: Writers on Estrangement, edited by Jenny Bartoy, forthcoming from Catapult in April 2026. She is thrilled to have her work featured alongside pieces by Nick Flynn, Cheryl Strayed, Deesha Philyaw, and other writers she admires. This anthology was listed by The Seattle Times as "A Most Anticipated Book of the Year" and described by Ocean Vuong as "A landmark work."
Cass is currently working on her creative nonfiction manuscript, THE BITING KIND, which is about mental health, homelessness, mass incarceration, and the climate crisis. This manuscript was shortlisted for the 2024 SFWP Literary Awards. Her writing that relates to some of the themes in this manuscript was 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, where she had the honor of workshopping part of THE BITING KIND with the amazing Helen Macdonald. This project also received support from the Tin House Winter Workshop and Millay Arts Wintertide.
Cass is a contributing writer at Philadelphia's Broad Street Review, and looks forward to pursuing more journalism projects.
She is honored to have been invited as a writer in residence at Can Serrat in Spain and the Vermont Studio Center.
Recent Notable Publications
Broad Street Review, "Writers and Artists Lead America's Nonviolent Fight for Justice"
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 debut novel, GRIEF CAMP, will be published by SFWP in 2027. Her personal essay, "Mother's Day," is included in the anthology, No Contact: Writers on Estrangement, edited by Jenny Bartoy, forthcoming from Catapult. She has contributed to several anthologies and 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, The Village Voice, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and NYC Playwrights.
Her plays have been produced in London, New York, Dublin, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other cities. She was shortlisted for the London-based Alpine Fellowship Theatre Prize and served as an adjudicator for the Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre for five years. 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. Her work has also received support from the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers' Conference, Tin House Winter Workshop, Millay Arts Wintertide, Can Serrat, and Vermont Studio Center.
She is a Writing Mentor for PEN America’s Prison and Justice Writing Program and was awarded the PEN America / L'Engle Rahman Prize for Mentorship. Cass is currently working on her manuscript, THE BITING KIND, about mental health, homelessness, mass incarceration, and the climate crisis, which made the 2024 SFWP Literary Awards Short List.
Some of Cassandra's books.