“My time at Drew gave me a new vision of the writing process as both a writer and a teacher, academic and creative”
August 2024 – Kathy Kremins G’05 has accomplished a major feat along her literary journey publishing her first full-length book of poetry, The Curve of Things.
Kremins, a Doctor of Letters (DLitt) alum from Drew University’s Caspersen School of Graduate Studies, is an accomplished author, having previously published two chapbooks of poems, Seamus & His Smalls and Undressing the World. Her dissertation, The Ethics of Reading: The Broken Beauties of Toni Morrison, Arundhati Roy, and Nawal el Sadaawi, was published as a book in 2010.
We sat down with the retired New Jersey public school teacher, coach, and adjunct professor to learn more about The Curve of Things and her time at Drew. Here’s what she had to say.
What inspired The Curve of Things?
The Curve of Things is the end of many years of writing poems because that’s what I do: I write poems. It’s my way of trying to understand the world and how I walk in it. It’s not about answers but rather about what questions I need to keep asking. It’s about connecting and participating in a communal conversation. It’s about wanting to be a better human. Some poems were written during my MFA at Goddard College back in the late 90s. But most of the collection was written in the past decade since I retired from full-time teaching.
Why did you choose the DLitt program at Drew?
As a public school teacher in New Jersey, where salary is based on years of service and higher education credits, it was part practical, but also personal. As a child of immigrants without high school diplomas where education and teachers were highly valued, life-long learning is a passion. I also love being in a classroom as a student. Even though my district didn’t recognize a doctoral degree for increased wages (maxed out at MA + 45), it was important for my focus to be in a program. It was an investment in myself. Also, Dr. Vinnie Rufino G’02, an esteemed colleague, raved about the DLitt program, and he was correct!
Has your degree or experience at Drew had an effect on your literary journey?
I was 46 when I completed my degree and had been teaching for 24 years. My time at Drew gave me a new vision of the writing process as both a writer and a teacher, academic and creative. I became a better teacher. One of the poems in The Curve of Things, Mapping, was written in a class taught by my dissertation advisor, Dr. Laura Winters [affiliate professor of literary studies, writing, and studies in religion]. My dissertation was published as a book in 2010, An Ethics of Reading: The Broken Beauties of Toni Morrison, Nawal El Saadawi, and Arundhati Roy (Lambert Academic Publishing).
What can your readers expect to see in the future?
I’m currently working on a hybrid collection for Read Furiously Press. It is a contemplation of what it means to create while existing in the moment. Part poetry, part meditation, part journal, it presents a glimpse into my practice of living and aging. Two other poetry manuscripts are in progress because I write poems but don’t organize them at the moment, just as with The Curve of Things. So, they will contain work written over years (but not decades). There are some other possibilities involving prose writing, including a long-gestating project of essays, Queering Space: The Art of the In-Between, and a memoir that needs more living, One Brick Becomes a Cathedral. I’m also considering a certification in Interfaith Peacebuilding from Drew University when I’m finished with my current full-time job of caring for two children, ages five and two.
