07/07/2026
We are beyond thrilled to announce that Kate Carroll de Gutes will judge this year's Margarita Donnelly Prize for Prose Writing. Submissions are open (now!) July 1-September 30, 2026.
Learn more on our website: .org
Kate Carroll de Gutes, Iowa City, Iowa, and Portland, Oregon, is a genderqueer writer whose work explores sexuality and the qualities of gender identity and expression in order to examine how butch women are dismantling traditional modes of masculinity and inhabiting a territory of masculine identity that has nothing to do with cis-men. As critics have become louder and more oppositional about issues of gender identity and expression, Kate feels an urgent need to counter and subvert traditional images and narratives. They are currently working on a new essay collection tentatively titled Will We See You In Something More Feminine Tomorrow?
Kate’s first book, Objects In Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear, won the 2016 Oregon Book Award for Creative Nonfiction and a 2016 Lambda Literary Award in Memoir.
Their second book, The Authenticity Experiment: Lessons From the Best & Worst Year of My Life, based on Kate’s critically acclaimed blog, was released in September 2017 and won an Independent Publishing Award medal in LGBTQ Nonfiction.
Kate was recently recognized by the Tanne Foundation for outstanding artistic achievement with an unrestricted financial award. Kate has received fellowships from the Jack Straw Foundation, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, the Anderson Center, Artsmith, and Centrum. An authentic and humorous teacher, Kate has taught at Pacific Lutheran University, University of Idaho, University of Puget Sound, and Willamette University, as well as at the Kachemak Bay Writers Conference, Chuckanut Writers Conference, and the Willamette Writers Conference.
They hold a Bachelor of Arts in Professional Writing from the University of Puget Sound and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University.
katecarrolldegutes.com
