Kate Gale

Dr. Kate Gale is co-founder and Managing Editor of Red Hen Press, Editor of the Los Angeles Review.  She teaches in the Low Residency MFA program at the University of Nebraska in Poetry, Fiction and Creative Non-Fiction.

She is the author of the forthcoming The Loneliest Girl from the University of New Mexico Press and of seven books of poetry including The Goldilocks Zone from the University of New Mexico Press in 2014, and Echo Light from Red Mountain in 2014 and six librettos including Rio de Sangre, a libretto for an opera with composer Don Davis, which had its world premiere October 2010 at the Florentine Opera in Milwaukee.  

She speaks on independent publishing around the US at schools like USC and Columbia and she speaks at Oxford University.  Her opera in process is https://www.thewebopera.com/ and an opera on Che Guevara is in process with Cuban composer Armando Bayolo.


All Books

The Los Angeles Review 23

Kate Gale

Publication Date: July 14, 2020

$20.00 Tradepaper

Description:

The Los Angeles Review is a literary journal of divergent literature with a West Coast emphasis. Established in 2003, LAR publishes both the stories of Los Angeles, endlessly varied, and those that grow outside our world of smog and glitter. LAR seeks voices with something wild in them, voices that know what it means to be alive, to be fallible, to be human.

The Los Angeles Review 22

Kate Gale

Publication Date: December 31, 2018

$20.00 Tradepaper

ISBN: 978-1-59709-434-4

Description:

The Los Angeles Review is a literary journal of divergent literature with a West Coast emphasis. Established in 2003, LAR publishes both the stories of Los Angeles, endlessly varied, and those that grow outside our world of smog and glitter. LAR seeks voices with something wild in them, voices that know what it means to be alive, to be fallible, to be human.

The Los Angeles Review 21

Kate Gale

Publication Date: June 1, 2017

$20.00 Tradepaper

ISBN: 978-1-59709-485-6

Description:

The Los Angeles Review is a literary journal of divergent literature with a West Coast emphasis. Established in 2003, LAR publishes both the stories of Los Angeles, endlessly varied, and those that grow outside our world of smog and glitter. LAR seeks voices with something wild in them, voices that know what it means to be alive, to be fallible, to be human.

The Los Angeles Review 20

Kate Gale

Publication Date: October 1, 2016

$20.00 Tradepaper

ISBN: 978-1-59709-421-4

Description:

The Los Angeles Review was established in 2003. For each issue we ask a number of editors to contribute so that a wide variety of literary voices rather than the vision of one editor. We believe that the West Coast has a significant and growing place in American literature. Los Angeles, with its multitude of cultures is at the center of the cauldron of divergent literature emerging from the West Coast. Perhaps from this place something can emerge that speaks to the writer or singer or dancer or wild person in all of us, something disturbing, something alive, something of the possibility of what it could be like to be human in the 21st century. The Los Angeles Review is the voice of Los Angeles, and the voice of the nation.

LA Fiction Anthology

John Brantingham, Kate Gale

Publication Date: May 3, 2016

$18.95 Tradepaper

ISBN: 978-1-59709-542-6

Description:

Editors John Brantingham and Kate Gale bring together many of Southern California’s finest storytellers in this celebration and exploration of Los Angeles and its surrounding environs.

Los Angeles may be best known as the hub of the film and television industry, but this collection of short fiction proves that beyond the beach and the glamour of Hollywood there is much more that makes the City of Angels special. Featuring an eclectic mix of fiction from a variety of talented literary minds–including TC Boyle, Ron Carlson, Judith Freeman, Percival Everett, and more–this anthology defies genre or easy categorization. Topics explored range from the deeply personal, such as a lesbian couple’s loss of a child and the reaction of a young man to a natural disaster, to the larger-than-life, including a vivid tale of a robot-infested dystopian Long Beach. This allows the creativity and vivacity of the Los Angeles literary scene to be put on display, with a powerful sense of place as the core of this ambitious and insightful project.

The Los Angeles Review 19

Kate Gale

Publication Date: April 1, 2016

$20.00 Tradepaper

ISBN: 978-1-59709-420-7

Description:

When senses voiced in writing merge, separate, and flow back together again, ink and paper suddenly transform. The plan, working alongside poverty in Haiti, the killing of things living yet unjustly categorized as trivial, the change in lives through photographs, and their stillness in passing. Color speaks, light touches, smell remembers, all through the innately human attempt to soften the unfamiliar, to know, and experience otherness. Enter Volume 19 of The Los Angeles Review and witness the minutiae and grandeurs, the discomforts, and triumphs of life as the senses tell it.

The Los Angeles Review 18

Kate Gale

Publication Date: October 1, 2015

$20.00 Tradepaper

ISBN: 978-1-59709-417-7

Description:

The Los Angeles Review is a literary journal of divergent literature with a West Coast emphasis. Established in 2003, LAR publishes both the stories of Los Angeles, endlessly varied, and those that grow outside our world of smog and glitter. LAR seeks voices with something wild in them, voices that know what it means to be alive, to be fallible, to be human.

The Los Angeles Review 17

Kate Gale

Publication Date: April 1, 2015

$20.00 Tradepaper

ISBN: 978-1-59709-207-4

Description:

The Los Angeles Review is a literary journal of divergent literature with a West Coast emphasis. Established in 2003, LAR publishes both the stories of Los Angeles, endlessly varied, and those that grow outside our world of smog and glitter. LAR seeks voices with something wild in them, voices that know what it means to be alive, to be fallible, to be human.

The Los Angeles Review 16

Kate Gale

Publication Date: December 15, 2014

$20.00 Tradepaper

Description:

The Los Angeles Review is a literary journal of divergent literature with a West Coast emphasis. Established in 2003, LAR publishes both the stories of Los Angeles, endlessly varied, and those that grow outside our world of smog and glitter. LAR seeks voices with something wild in them, voices that know what it means to be alive, to be fallible, to be human.

The Los Angeles Review 15

Kate Gale, Nicelle Davis

Publication Date: March 1, 2014

$16 Tradepaper

Description:

The Los Angeles Review is a literary journal of divergent literature with a West Coast emphasis. Established in 2003, LAR publishes both the stories of Los Angeles, endlessly varied, and those that grow outside our world of smog and glitter. LAR seeks voices with something wild in them, voices that know what it means to be alive, to be fallible, to be human.

The Los Angeles Review 14

Kate Gale

Publication Date: October 1, 2013

$20 Tradepaper

ISBN: 1-59709-174-9

Description:

For more information on the Los Angeles Review click here.

The Los Angeles Review 13

Kate Gale

Publication Date: February 1, 2013

$20 Tradepaper

ISBN: 1-59709-160-2

Description:

For more information on this issue of the Los Angeles Review click here.

The Los Angeles Review 12

Kate Gale

Publication Date: October 1, 2012

$20 Tradepaper

ISBN: 1-59709-157-2

Description:

For more information on this issue of the Los Angeles Review click here.

The Los Angeles Review 11

Kate Gale, Kelly Davio

Publication Date: February 1, 2012

$20 Tradepaper

ISBN: 1-59709-143-X

Description:

For more information on this issue of the Los Angeles Review, click here.

Los Angeles Review 10

Kelly Davio, Kate Gale

Publication Date: October 1, 2011

$20 Tradepaper

ISBN: 1-59709-126-X

Description:

For more information on this issue of the Los Angeles Review, click here.

Los Angeles Review 9

Kelly Davio, Kate Gale

Publication Date: February 1, 2011

$20 Tradepaper

ISBN: 1-59709-112-X

Description:

For more information on this issue of the Los Angeles Review, click here.

Los Angeles Review 8

Kate Gale, Kelly Davio

Publication Date: October 1, 2010

$20 Tradepaper

ISBN: 1-59709-500-1

Description:

For more information on this issue of the Los Angeles Review, click here.

Rio de Sangre

Kate Gale

Publication Date: October 1, 2010

$20 Tradepaper

ISBN: 978-1-59709-746-8

Description:

Río De Sangre tells the story, in Spanish, of the overthrow of a dictatorship in a fictional South American country. In the aftermath of a coup d’état, the new leader of a Latin American republic embarks on an idealistic course for his nascent government. Faced with numerous problems and no one to trust, our protagonist Delacruz realizes that the good of the country and the protection of his own family may be more than he can achieve.


A series of catastrophic events follow—earthquakes, kidnapping and assassination, combine to allow the rise of an adversarial wolf in sheep’s clothing. The outbreak of a riot affords the opportunity for this adversary to assume control of the government, thus perpetuating the tragic cycle of oppression.


The passion and color of the South American heritage, and the triumphs and struggles of its people throughout its history of oppression and tragedy suggests music of monumental drama.

The Devil’s Punchbowl

Kate Gale

Publication Date: June 1, 2010

$24.95 Tradepaper

ISBN: 978-1-59709-164-0

Description:

The Devil’s Punchbowl is an anthology of essays commissioned from writers living in California, who were asked to reflect on an aspect of the state’s geography, natural or man-made: Alcatraz Island and its prison; Manzanar and Mt. Whitney; Big Sur and Joshua Tree; Los Angeles’ oil derricks and Mountain View’s Google headquarters; the farms of the Central Valley and the redwoods of the Northern Coastland. California’s outsized cultural and economic impact on both our country and the rest of the world necessitate a continual taking stock, to prevent losing ourselves in the state’s constant transformations. The Devil’s Punchbowl captures a pivotal time in our country’s history, as some of the state’s most recognized, complex, and accomplished writers, including Carolyn See, Janet Fitch, David Ulin, Susan Straight, and Lisa See, describe their relationship with California’s ever-changing geographic, economic, and psychic landscape.

Los Angeles Review 7

Kelly Davio, Kate Gale

Publication Date: April 1, 2010

$20 Tradepaper

ISBN: 1-59709-474-9

Description:

For more information on this issue of the Los Angeles Review, click here.

Los Angeles Review 6

Kate Gale, Nancy Boutin

Publication Date: November 1, 2009

$20 Tradepaper

ISBN: 1-59709-149-9

Description:

For more information on this issue of the Los Angeles Review, click here.

Los Angeles Review 5

Kate Gale

Publication Date: February 15, 2009

$20.00 Tradepaper

ISBN: 1-59709-148-0

Description:

The Los Angeles Review is a literary journal of divergent literature with a West Coast emphasis. Established in 2003, LAR publishes both the stories of Los Angeles, endlessly varied, and those that grow outside our world of smog and glitter. LAR seeks voices with something wild in them, voices that know what it means to be alive, to be fallible, to be human.

Los Angeles Review 4

Kate Gale

Publication Date: February 1, 2007

$16.00 Tradepaper

ISBN: 1-59709-147-2

Description:

For more information on this issue of the Los Angeles Review, click here.

White text stating The Los Angeles Review Number 3 - 2006 over a red background with the centered image of a freeway at night.

Los Angeles Review 3

Kate Gale

Publication Date: April 1, 2006

$16 Tradepaper

ISBN: 1-59709-146-4

Description:

For more information on this issue of the Los Angeles Review, click here.

White text stating The Crucifix is Down Edited by Kate Gale and Mark E. Cull over an abstract red and purple painting.

The Crucifix Is Down

Kate Gale

Publication Date: March 1, 2005

$17.95 Tradepaper

ISBN: 1-888996-34-X

Description:

As we spiral into the twenty-first century, the foundations of Western civilization are consumed, corpse-like, by fragments, decay, wind and water. By the next century, one blue alien may stand on the shores of Earth holding a skull in the wreck we’ve made of this once beautiful planet and say, “I knew them once. A fair race, a proud race.” What energy and foul nesting instinct consumes us and causes us to ruin our own home while over-populating it? Human passions and failures are the stuff of literature, the grist of good writing and none is more captivating than this monumental failure of civilization. Such is the fabric of this collection.


Short fiction by:


Henry Alcalay, Margaret Atwood, Italo Calvino, Karen J. Cantrell, Wanda Coleman, Vincent Collazo, Mark E. Cull, Keala Francis, Kate Gale, Ray Gonzalez, James Harmon, Steve Lautermilch, Ursula K. Le Guin, Alan Lindsay, Melissa Lion, Mark Magill, Dennis Must, Kate Noonan, David Pollock, Anne Randolph, Robert Reid, Jewell Parker Rhodes, Cecile Rossant, Candice Rowe, Elizabeth Ruiz, Greg Sanders, Diza Sauers, E.C. Stanley, Jordan Sudy, Joe Taylor, Jillian Umphenour, Terry Wolverton, and H.E. Wright.

Los Angeles Review 2

Kate Gale

Publication Date: February 1, 2005

$14 Tradepaper

ISBN: 1-59709-145-6

Description:

We live in an age where to speak may not always be wise. Big Brother is watching you as you call and as you write. So why not write something that really stirs up ideas? The enemy for most Americans, the one thing that makes our lives sordid and uneventful, is the mind numbing life we all live. If our mind is too numb because we cannot turn off electronic stimuli long enough to think, then where will good writing come from?The Los Angeles Review is the voice of Los Angeles, and the voice of the nation. We do not have one editor who chooses work based on their idiosyncratic tastes, but instead bring in a variety of editors for each issue. This year’s editors are focusing on The Stories We Tell. We dedicate the second issue of The Los Angeles Review to Deena Metzger.

Los Angeles Review 1

Kate Gale

Publication Date: March 1, 2004

$14.00 Tradepaper

ISBN: 1-59709-144-8

Description:

We live in an age where to speak may not always be wise. Big Brother is
watching you as you call and as you write. So why not write something that
really stirs up ideas? The enemy for most Americans, the one thing that makes our lives sordid and uneventful, is the mind numbing life we all live. If our mind is too numb because we cannot turn off electronic stimulus long enough to think, then where will good writing come from?

The Los Angeles Review
 is the voice of Los Angeles, and the voice of the
nation. We will not have one editor who chooses work based on their
idiosyncratic tastes, but instead will bring in a variety of editors for each issue. This year’s editors are focusing on Language, Silence and Oppression.

Fake City Syndrome

Kate Gale

Publication Date: August 1, 2002

$29.95 Tradepaper

ISBN: 1-888996-60-9

Description:

This collection of essays addresses both popular culture and academic discourse. Contributors sound a cautionary note about the dumbing down of our civilization and the lack of spiritual depth in mass culture, but as these essays show, there is a spark of imaginative critical thought still brewing. These essays address race, assimilation, American civilization, and broken dreams contrasted with elusive spaces for imagination in art, literature and community. We find ourselves divining madness in American values, and sanity in progressive ideals; as we find that things that sound too fair are fantastical indeed and some that smile have in their hearts millions of mischiefs.

Fishers of Men

Kate Gale

Publication Date: June 1, 2000

$12.95 Tradepaper

ISBN: 1-888996-27-7

Description:

Excerpt from Fishers of Men:

The Last Photograph

In the small photograph

my mother has her eyes closed.

I am shapeless, rather pale

probably two. There is snow.

My sister has a sled.

It is only a year before

my mother will abandon me

to be beaten, brainwashed.

For years I was sure that

she despised that shapeless creature

until I looked carefully

and realized I’d been buried in the snow

up to the armpits.

She was sitting there, eyes closed

that thing that had been her daughter

already a part of the landscape,

her mind already gone.

Blue Cathedral

Kate Gale

Publication Date: March 1, 2000

$19.95 Tradepaper

ISBN: 1-888996-21-8

Description:

We began in the dark, and from the dark, we created myths, stories, the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness, Odysseus returning home, Buddha sitting lotus quiet. We had a few good stories to sustain our wanderings.


Over several thousand years, the fire of myths began to burn out. Or we burned them out. We burned Troy, the prophets, and Joan of Arc, and finally, as one myth after another descended onto the pile of ashes, we found ourselves outside the church, the cathedral, the pyramid, the synagogue, with no path, and no journey. No Holy Grail to seek for, no reason to seek a grail. We pick up the skull of the storyteller, turn it over in our hands, fumbling for the eye sockets that used to see something. We don’t know how to handle the skull, with what ritual to bury it, what song to sing for the dead or the living. The stories in this collection, address this place in which we’ve found ourselves, more aware of the dead than the living. The dead had their myths and their fire.

Selling the Hammock

Kate Gale

Publication Date: November 1, 1998

$10.95 Tradepaper

ISBN: 1-888996-06-4

Description:

ADVANCE PRAISE


“Doubts and secret disappointments are the knots that secure this hammock…stretch out…hang suspended…But beware: do not…relax.”—Melody Stevenson


“I like [Gale’s] gutsy sensuality–even snow banks have thighs…a dream like quality…rich with haunting images.”—Lyn Lifshin

Anyone Is Possible

Kate Gale

Publication Date: January 1, 1997

$14.95 Tradepaper

ISBN: 1-888996-01-3

Description:

Voices that say listen to me, look up from your palm, that is not your future; I am telling you all the stories of your life.


ADVANCE PRAISE


“Anything might happen in the striking narratives of Anyone is Possible: a seductive older woman might teach you a thing or two about suspense, a cybermorphic poet might sputter at the sight of the lyricist for Plato’s Deathmetal Tumors, or a masked man might terrorize a couple in an ordinarily peaceful college town; and in all of these stories, language happens–lyrical cascades of language that will carry you along swiftly and surely. If you’re interested in the direction of short fiction as we hurtle toward the 21st Century, read this collection.” —Ed Falco

Blue Air

Kate Gale

Publication Date: August 1, 1995

$7.95 Tradepaper

ISBN: 0-9639528-5-4

Description:

“This book claims as its territory the indefinite spaces separating us: the ground where we move together and apart, the long curve desire describes and follows. Connection seems tenable as a jet trail, “a seam, holding together / the two halves of the sky.”


Kate [Gale] Harper belongs in the company of Lorna Goodison, Margaret Atwood, Lucille Clifton—all poets who write, with force and directness, what a woman lives.


ADVANCE PRAISE


“I think the secret of Harper’s strength is this: from the middle of all loss, all bewilderment, her poems aspire to the condition of dancing.”—Angela Ball, Mississippi Review

Where Crows and Men Collide

Kate Gale

Publication Date: August 1, 1995

$7.95 Tradepaper

ISBN: 0-9639528-4-6

Description:

ADVANCE PRAISE


“I urge you to read this book. Kate Gale has a dream of justice and a wry sense of how hard it is to obtain. She confronts the wrongs of sex, of gender, of husbands and lovers, and sees how easily we confuse our desires with what is right. Somehow, in this process dangerous for a poet, she enters the garden of language and returns whole, humming.”—Benjamin Saltman

News

Kate Gale and Kim Dower on KUCI

Kate Gale, our managing editor, and Kim Dower, author of the wonderful new collection AIR KISSING ON MARS, were interviewed this morning on KUCI for the segment “Writers on Writing […]