Katherine Vaz
Vaz in 2007
Born	(1955-08-26) August 26, 1955 (age 68) Castro Valley, California, US
Occupation	Writer
Genre	Novels, short stories, non-fiction, children’s literature
Spouses	Christopher Cerf ​ ( m. 2015)​

Katherine Vaz (born August 26, 1955) is a Portuguese-American writer. A Briggs-Copeland Fellow in Fiction at Harvard University (2003–2009), a 2006–2007 Fellow of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, ^[1] and the Fall, 2012 Harman Fellow at Baruch College in New York, ^[2] she is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Above the Salt, which was chosen as one of People Magazine's Best New Books to Read in November, 2023. ^[3]

Vaz's novel Saudade (St. Martin’s Press, 1994) is the first contemporary novel about Portuguese-Americans from a major New York publisher. It was optioned by Marlee Matlin/Solo One Productions and selected in the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers series. ^[4]

Her novel, Mariana, (HarperCollins, 1997), was selected by the Library of Congress as one of the Top 30 International Books of 1998 and has been translated into six languages. ^[1]

Vaz's first short story collection Fado & Other Stories received the 1997 Drue Heinz Literature Prize ^[5] and her second collection, Our Lady of the Artichokes, won the 2007 Prairie Schooner Book Prize. ^[6]

Vaz is a recipient of a Literature Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts (1993) ^[7] and the Davis Humanities Institute Fellowship (1999). She has been named by the Luso-Americano as one of the Top 50 Luso-Americanos of the twentieth century ^[8] and is the first Portuguese-American to have her work recorded for the Library of Congress, housed in the Hispanic Division. The Portuguese-American Women’s Association (PAWA) named her 2003 Woman of the Year. ^[9] She was appointed to the six-person U.S. Presidential Delegation to open the American Pavilion at the World’s Fair/Expo 98 in Lisbon. ^[10] She lives in New York City and the Springs area of East Hampton with Christopher Cerf, whom she married in July 2015. ^[11]

Awards

• 1997: Drue Heinz Literature Prize, Fado & Other Stories ^[12]
• 2007: Prairie Schooner Book Prize, " [1]" ^[6]

Accolades

• Vaz is the first Portuguese-American writer to have work recorded for the Archives of the Library of Congress
• Named one of the top fifty Luso-Americans of the 20th century by LusoAmericano Magazine
• Named by the Portuguese Leadership Council of the U.S. as one of the All-Time Most Influential Lusa Women
• Appointed to the six-person Presidential Delegation to open the U.S. pavilion at Expo 98/World's Fair in Lisbon ^[13]
• Above the Salt chosen as one of People Magazine's Best New Books to Read in Nov. 2023 ^[14]

Published works

Novels

• Saudade (St. Martin’s Press, June 1994)
• Mariana (HarperCollins/Flamingo, 1997)
• Above the Salt (Flatiron Books, MacMillan, 2023)

Story collections

• Fado & Other Stories ( University of Pittsburgh Press, 1997)
• Our Lady of the Artichokes and Other Portuguese-American Stories ( University of Nebraska Press, 2008)

Short stories

Non-fiction

• "Songs of the Soul, Songs of the Night," The New York Times, Sophisticated Traveler Magazine, September 18, 1994
• Signatures of Grace (Dutton, 2000). Essay on Baptism. (In conjunction with Mary Gordon, Andre Dubus, Patricia Hampl, Ron Hansen, Paula Huston, Paul Mariani).
• "Carving the Fruitstones," for anthology about short fiction, 2004, Greenwood Publications.
• "This Howling," essay on the Azores/introduction to novel by João de Melo (My World Is Not of This Kingdom, translated from Portuguese by Gregory Rabassa), Aliform Press, 2003.

Children's literature

• "The Kingdom of Melting Glances" short story in A Wolf at the Door (Simon & Schuster, 2000, in fourth printing)
• "A World Painted by Birds" in Green Man anthology (Viking, 2002)
• "My Swan Sister," title story in Swan Sister and Other Stories (Simon & Schuster, 2003)
• "Your Garnet Eyes,"in anthology Faery Reel, (Viking, 2004)
• "Chamber Music for Animals," in Coyote Road anthology (Viking, 2006)

Footnotes