Meet K.E. Ogden | Poet, Writer, & Educator

We had the good fortune of connecting with K.E. Ogden and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi K.E., have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
As a writer, it’s always challenging to find that work/life or work/write balance. There will always be other things to get done, so prioritizing my writing time is important. Years ago the Creative Writing program at Pasadena City College where I work brought alumna Reyna Grande to speak to students, and she talked about how after she graduated with her BA she became a teacher and a mother, and at some point she said to herself, “What happened to my dream of becoming a writer?” So she had to begin prioritizing writing time for herself and fitting it in whenever possible. That consistency led to her writing several celebrated books. My own colleague from the Kenyon Review’s summer writing programs, writer David Hall, gave a talk to high school students lamenting there was no time to write, and he said, “You know, there is a 5am,” and what he meant by that was that we writers DO have to stop making excuses for ourselves and create a life where writing can be at the center. That’s really the only way. For myself, I depend on my summers to do a lot of reading and writing, and then when I’m teaching during the academic year, I write with my students, and then I also have recently become part of that “5am club” for writers. I wake up and do it. Sometimes it’s just garbage, but having that set place and time is very important. “Balance” can be overrated too — unless “work” is taking up all of the time. We don’t necessarily have to have equal “balance” but writers and artists do need to prioritize their writer/artist identities and live their lives with that at the center.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’ve been a writer and performer for as long as I can remember. Poetry and theater have always been at the heart of my identity, and then as the years have passed, I’ve expanded into writing fiction and non-fiction, screenplays and stage plays, and I’ve recently taken courses in Narrative Therapy because I believe so strongly in the power of writing and of art to heal trauma and to re-story trauma. With all of my students, whether creative writing, literature and composition, theater etc. I always center our practice in writing – journaling and freewriting. I think it’s important that everyone connect to their internal, “authentic” voices because that helps us to develop our writing voices. Most recently, my book WHAT THE BODY ALREADY KNOWS which won the Finishing Line Press New Women’s Voices poetry prize, was an exercise in connecting with and processing grief over the deaths of my mother, father, and step-father.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
There are so many things to do in Los Angeles that feed our creative writing and artist souls. In my own neighborhood of Studio City, Aroma Coffee & Tea is a great little coffee shop where many creatives take space to reflect and write, and also to connect with one another and meet new people. I am also a lover of Vroman’s books in Pasadena, and the new bookstore in Pasadena, OCTAVIA’S BOOKSHELF, named after famous Pasadena City College alumna and writer Octavia Butler — two independent bookstores where I can lose myself for hours browsing the shelves and discovering new voices (or new to me voices!). I also always find time as a writer to feed my creative self by attending theater at EAST WEST PLAYERS and A NOISE WITHIN. There’s just so much to inspire writers and artists in LA! If I had friends visiting, I’d take them to these places that I love for sure!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
When I first came to Los Angeles 20 years ago I was desperate for a writing community and was lucky enough to meet Jeff Gordon and connect with the folks at Writer’s Boot Camp. As an aspiring screenwriter, it was just the community I needed when I first came to Los Angeles and I’ll always be grateful for the mentoring and support and the collaborative creative atmosphere Jeff and his team (and my workshop class mates) provided to me!

Website: www.kirstenogden.com

Instagram: @SizzleAndBounce

Linkedin: @Kirstenogden

Image Credits
Images provided courtesy of K.E. Ogden 2024