Get Katie to The Heart Of It

I am Katie Hébert, a queer and neurodivergent poet, writer, performer, and advocate born, raised, and based in Manhattan, NYC. I graduated from SUNY Oneonta in 2019, where I earned my B.A. in English and Women's & Gender Studies. While I have been writing poetry since childhood, I found spoken word in 10th grade and have been in love with it ever since. I competed and performed at the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational (CUPSI) for multiple years: in Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston while representing SUNY Oneonta. I have also performed at many venues in New York State and throughout the Northeast. I am a 2020 Best of the Net nominee, with my original work published in places like Ayaskala Literary Magazine, Turnpike Magazine, and The State Times.

In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, I joined the virtual writing workshop Undercurrent , created and facilitated by Desiree Dallagiacomo, a poet I have long admired. I have been a frequent member of Undercurrent, and have worked with Desiree in her other classes of Throughline and Kin Keeping. I have found myself warmly embraced by a global community of writers and have grown into my own as a writer and community member. When Desiree’s writing retreat, The Heart Of It, opened for applications, I applied again this year and am thrilled to say I was accepted into the 2023 cohort. In order to get myself to The Heart of It, I'll need your help.

This retreat will cost a bit to get there on top of a $750 tuition (due on 12/31/2022), which covers all instruction, food during the retreat, and ground transportation to and from the Sonoma County airport. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I was laid off from March 2020 to August 2021, and I am still paying off the unemployment tax debt from when I was laid off. The $1,500 would be used to pay the $750 tuition and the cost of travel from New York to Point Arena, California (which for June 2023, prices of flights currently look anywhere between $400-$600). Any extra funds will be donated directly to The Heart Of It to support the retreat and help fund future cohorts’ costs, as well helping THOI find secure funds to buy a permanent home for The Heart of It , as 2023 will be in a rented space for (hopefully) the last time.

This acceptance means the world, and I am so excited for June 2023 to be on the California coast and connecting with myself, my community, my writing, and my process in this retreat that I have dreamed of attending for several years.

I really really appreciate all your help supporting my craft!

To learn more about The Heart Of It and its impact, you can go here .

To see some of my work, you can go here.