Cathy Alter

Cathy Alter is a faculty member of M.A. in Writing Program at The Johns Hopkins University where she teaches in the program’s nonfiction concentration. She is a popular author and writer whose feature articles, essays, and reviews have appeared in O, the Oprah Magazine, Martha Stewart Living, Wired Magazine, Guernica, and McSweeney’s. She’s a contributing editor at Washingtonian and a frequent contributor to The Washington Post Sunday Magazine, On Parenting, Travel, and Wellness sections.

Alter is the author of three books. Virgin Territory: Stories From the Road to Womanhood, the memoir, Up for Renewal: What Magazines Taught Me About Love, Sex, and Starting Over, and CRUSH: Writers Reflect on Love, Longing, and the Lasting Power of Their First Celebrity Crush. Her essays have been included in numerous anthologies including Wedding Cake for Breakfast, In Case We Die, and Us Against Alzheimer’s. She’s appeared on The Today Show, Good Day Washington, NPR’s The Kojo Nambe Show, Sixth & I Synagogue, Politics & Prose, and in bookstores across the U.S.

A board member of Washington Independent Review of Books, Alter also writes a regular column for the site. She received a B.A. from Colgate University and a M.A. from Johns Hopkins University. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband and son.