Catherine Ricketts Is Not Running

Circling Issue #28, featuring Catherine Ricketts

Catherine Ricketts writes about the arts, grief, joy, and spirituality. She studied writing at the University of Pennsylvania and holds an MFA in nonfiction from Seattle Pacific University. Her essays have appeared in The Kenyon Review Online, The Christian Century, Image, The Millions, Paste, and the Ploughshares blog, among other publications. While writing, she has supported the work of other practicing artists as a live arts presenter, having held jobs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia’s FringeArts, and the public radio station WXPN. Ricketts lives with her family near Philadelphia.

It was a particular joy for me to meet virtually with Catherine this summer, as her new book The Mother Artist has been my favorite book of 2024. It’s a book that I feel like I’ve wanted in the world for so long. In Catherine’s words, its thesis is that the world needs art made by those who spend their hours looking at the vulnerable among us.

Catherine brings a gentleness, curiosity, and…