By Greigh Cloward
NEWBURYPORT – Kate Bolick is one of the featured artists of Coming Home, a current art exhibit at Newburyport Art that has invited past and current citizens of Newburyport, back to their hometown to showcase their unique artistic talents. She is an author of various books including Spinster: Making a Life of One’s Own, a New York Times Notable Book of 2015. Bolick has worked for The Boston Globe, The Atlantic, and has published articles in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Vogue. Additionally, she previously taught at Columbia University, New York University, currently teaches at Yale University in the English department, and has made appearances on NPR programs including The Today Show, CBS Sunday Morning, and CNN.
After attending Colby College, Kate Bolick began her journalistic career by applying to The Atlantic for an internship but instead getting a job as Assistant to the Senior VP of the Magazine. Here she got experience in literary criticism by interviewing authors of new books and learning about their writing processes. However, Bolick wasn’t always interested in journalism. She started writing poetry and stories as a child. When she was 5 years old, she moved from Virginia to Newburyport where the art scene kept inspiring her to pursue writing and the arts. At Colby College, Bolick majored in American Studies and minored in Poetry. Her passion for poetry changed when her mother passed away after graduating college.
Driven by her “journalistic curiosity” to learn and find answers, Kate Bolick delved deeper into the world of journalism and published a viral article in The Atlantic in 2011 titled “All the Single Ladies”. It was a cover story about how that time was the first in American history where there were more unmarried people than married people in the country. Shortly after, Bolick wrote Spinster: Making a Life of One’s Own to discover how the United States came to this as a society. More so, her book covered the idea that “a woman’s worth is not tied to her relationship status”.
The success of her book was tremendously helpful to Kate Bolick’s career as it allowed her to teach at the college-level, one of her main goals, eventually becoming a lecturer in English at Yale University. She is grateful that she is a part of the Yale community as “the faculty and students are fantastic” and she loves having the opportunity to support students’ ideas and bring those ideas to the printed page.
For future projects, Kate Bolick has an upcoming book soon to be released in 2025 titled “Every Friend a Phantom” where she explores friendship, the history of it, and what she thinks it means as friendship has always been a significant aspect of her life. Bolick is especially excited to meet new artists at Coming Home and celebrate the town of Newburyport as it has shaped her artistic career. She is greatly appreciative of Belle Carver Struck, the curator of Coming Home, for thinking of such a unique event that celebrates artists from Newburyport.
When asked if she had any advice for aspiring writers, Kate Bolick said, “Remember that writing is a lifelong process. Don’t be daunted by how much there is to learn because you’ll be learning your whole life.”
To learn more about Kate Bolick visit: katebolick.com.
To learn more about Coming Home visit: newburyportart.org. ♦
