fiction.wikisort.org - Writer

Kate Baer is an American poet. Her first book which dealt with the pleasures and burdens of motherhood was a bestseller during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Her second book was based on texts including social media hate mail. She rearranged the words to create new poems and new meanings.

Kate Baer
Baer in 2021
Occupation	Poet
Alma mater	Eastern Mennonite University
Notable works	What Kind of Woman I Hope This Finds You Well
Spouse	Austin[1]
Children	4
Website
www.katebaer.com

Early life and education

Baer grew up outside of Philadelphia, the daughter of an elementary schoolteacher and a meatpacking plant worker-turned-Christian radio host. She learned about poetry as she majored in English at Eastern Mennonite University.[2][3] Her favorite writer is Margaret Atwood.[4]

Poetry

Her first piece of paid writing was a book of poetry entitled What Kind of Woman.[5] She wrote the book at a nearby Panera Bread[3] which sold salads, sandwiches and drinks. It was the nearest place she could find to concentrate from her home in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania.[3] She had four children and at the cafe she avoided being thrown out by ordering food. After a while she found she could only eat so much of their food,[4] although one staff member allowed her to bring her own. She became friends and a place was kept for her, by a power outlet so that she could plug in her laptop. She hired a babysitter who would look after her and her husband's children[6] while she wrote poems about problems, happiness and motherhood. She wrote about the responsibilities of being a mother and the requirement to prioritise her family over her own life. Her motherhood included "heavy-bottomed toddlers in all their mortal rage.”[4] The book was published in 2020, and it quickly topped the New York Times Best Seller list.[7] She was asked to do interviews, but this was during the pandemic lockdown, so she needed to use Zoom and to be undisturbed. She wrote poetry resting on her Honda minivan steering wheel and attended virtual interviews from her driving seat using the wi-fi from the locked Panera Bread's parking lot.[6]

It is unusual for a poet's first book to sell well, but hers did.[6] Some of the interest in her book was assigned to the gender inequality she highlighted which became more obvious during the pandemic. Children were not always able to go to school and families unusually had to live in the same space. Mothers coped. Another factor that generated interest was that women in families could read her book. They read of the problems of another woman - which was a substitute for the meetings her readers were not having with others due to pandemic.[4]

In 2020 she started to write poetry for her second book. Switching from her previous theme, she turned to the messages and hate mail she was getting on social media. In one example a man complains about the poor example her work sets for his daughter and she removes lots of his words to reveal a poem that implies that he does not understand his own daughter. She took texts written by people in the news and rearranged the words of politicians or judges into new poems.[7] In 2021, Baer's second book, I Hope This Finds You Well, was published.[8]

References

External links

• Official website

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