Kaya Oakes is an American nonfiction writer and journalist from the San Francisco Bay Area of California.

Biography

She was born in

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

and earned an MFA in creative writing at Saint Mary's College of California in Moraga. Since 1999, Oakes has taught writing at the University of California, Berkeley. She also is a senior correspondent for Religion Dispatches, a contributing writer for ''

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

'' magazine, and has written for '' The Guardian'', ''

Foreign Policy A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...

'', and '' On Being''. Her first book, ''Telegraph'', a collection of poetry published in 2007, received the Transcontinental Poetry Prize from Pavement Saw Press in 2008. Her nonfiction book, ''Slanted and Enchanted: The Evolution of Indie Culture'', was published by

Henry Holt Henry Holt may refer to: *Henry Holt (North Dakota politician) (1887–1944), lieutenant governor *Henry Holt (publisher) (1840–1926), American publisher and author **Henry Holt and Company, Holt's publishing company *Henry E. Holt (born 1929), ...

in June 2009. She is an editor for the religion website ''Killing the Buddha''. In 2002, she co-founded '' Kitchen Sink Magazine'', which received the Utne Independent Press Award for Best New Magazine in 2003. Oakes edited and wrote for ''Kitchen Sink'' until it ended its print run in 2007. She has been the recipient of teaching fellowships from the Mellon Faculty Institute and the Bay Area Writing Project, as well as a writing prize from the Academy of American Poets. Oakes has twice been nominated for the

Pushcart Prize The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are ...

in nonfiction. In her memoir, ''Radical Reinvention: An Unlikely Return to the Catholic Church'', published by

Counterpoint In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

in June 2012, Oakes, who had been raised Catholic, recounts how, after years of proudly calling herself an atheist and despite her frustration with Catholic conservatism, she returned to the Catholic faith. Oakes published her fourth book, ''The Nones Are Alright: A New Generation of Seekers, Believers, and Those In Between'', with Orbis Books in 2015. It was a finalist for the 2015 Religion News Association best book award. The book examines the decline in participation in organized religion in America by profiling individuals who either fell away from or embraced religion.

References

External links

Kaya Oakes' official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oakes, Kaya 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women writers Living people American feminists American memoirists American Roman Catholic religious writers Catholics from California Converts to Roman Catholicism from atheism or agnosticism Saint Mary's College of California alumni University of California, Berkeley faculty Writers from Oakland, California American women memoirists Women religious writers Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American non-fiction writers American women journalists Catholic feminists