Sue Katz

Author, journalist and blogger Sue Katz has lived, worked and published journalism on three continents. She used to be most proud of her martial arts career and her world travel, but now it is all about her blog Consenting Adult and her new book Thanks But No Thanks: The Voter's Guide to Sarah Palin.

PROFESSIONAL BIO
Thanks to a full scholarship, I was able to escape Pittsburgh, Pa, at age 17, to attend Boston University, where I first began writing and publishing during the exhilarating ‘60s. After gaining my BA with Honors (majoring in mayhem), I was one of the first women to gain a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. I spent 18 years running my own martial arts institutions, first in California (it was called Kick-Ass for Women), and then for 14 years in Israel, where I pioneered self-defense for elders, women, girls and people with disabilities.

At Tel Aviv University, I completed an Honors MA in English Literature (my thesis, “The Lie of Gender,” looked at essentialist biology in 19th Century literature), all the while publishing short fiction and journalism, including two columns for national newspapers, the first on personal security and the second on sexuality. I gained two certifications from Wingate Institute: one to teach fitness to older people and another to run a fitness center.

Throughout the 90s I lived in London where I was employed in the British non-profit sector, promoting volunteerism internationally, and publishing professional materials, political analysis and creative non-fiction. I was a speaker at conferences around the world and appeared in such fab venues as Windsor Castle and Ravello, Italy. I returned to Boston in 2000 to take up a job as the Executive Director of a non-profit agency where I worked until 2002, when I left to write full-time, while freelancing as an editor and instructor of senior fitness and Ballroom & Latin American dance.

WRITING HISTORY
The tagline on my business card reads: Wordsmith & Rebel. I’ve consistently published journalism and short fiction since the early 70s on the three continents where I’ve lived. My key topics are sex and sexualites, cultural commentary, dance performance reviews and Middle East peace movements. I’ve had numerous essays and stories included in anthologies such as the pioneer UK erotica More Serious Pleasure (1990, Sheba Press), Invented Identities? (1997, Cassell), Telling Tales Out of School (1998, Alyson) and Mentsh (2004, Alyson).

I have written for myriad publications, from progressive news magazines to cultural journals to daily newspapers. Most recently, my work has appeared in Alternet.org, Colorlines, Edge Publications and , daily newspapers in Israel in the and the British Red Pepper. I wrote my book Thanks But No Thanks: The Voter's Guide to Sarah Palin in 28 days of all-nighters.

I have also published in professional publications on the topics of management, volunteerism and writing for business in the UK charity monthly Third Sector and on the US website Opportunity Nocs. You can see my piece on Netiquette here: http://www.customline.com/wordware/individual/articles/email.html.

My favorite form of writing has been the travelogues I sent to a hundred or so friends as I traveled the world for my London job. It was a way to keep in touch and to introduce my artist friends in Italy to my country friends in Vermont to my pals in the non-profit sector in Northern Ireland. Writing about my life has been my way to have a literary cuddle across oceans and time. I hope this blog will ratchet up the technology and expand the scope of my affections.