Kat Lehmann is a poet and scientist captivated by the process of personal transformation. She is the author of Stumbling Toward Happiness: Haibun and Hybrid Poems (2019), Small Stones from the River (2017) and Moon Full of Moons (2015)—nature-centered, meditative explorations of endured hardship and a healing journey toward renewal, happiness, and wonder.

Since 2014, her poems have been published internationally in journals, periodicals, and anthologies, including Acorn, Asahi Shimbun, the Aurorean, Blithe Spirit, the Connecticut River Review, frogpond, Human/Kind, Jacar One, Kissing Dynamite, Mayfly, The Mainichi, Modern Haiku, Presence, Rattle, Sonic Boom, tinywords, and The Heron’s Nest. Her haiku has been selected by NHK-Japan Haiku Masters, where she has been honored as a Haiku Master Finalist several times. Her poem “Skin” is the Third Place Winner of the 2016 Connecticut Poetry Award.

Kat holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry and has worked in the research science, research ethics, and regulatory compliance fields for three decades. She lives on the edge of a Connecticut fairy forest with her family.

In 2017, Kat founded “Ripples of Kindness”, a poetry outreach and public giving project in which signed copies of her books are placed in public spaces globally for strangers to find. The times she returned ten minutes later, the book is gone. Kat believes we all have the power to put good things into the world, just by doing it. Our simple gifts might be exactly what a stranger needs to shift their day and keep the ripple of kindness rippling. A portion of proceeds from her books support the project.

Selected Poetry Awards and Honors:
Third Place, Sonic Boom Senryu Contest (2020); Semifinalist, Sable Books Women’s Haiku Book Contest for Women for Sketching My Mother’s Shadow: A Memoir in Haiku (2020); Commended Poems, AHA Haiku/Senryu Contest (United Haiku and Tanka Society, 2019); Selected, Best of Haiku in English (The Mainichi, 2019); Nomination, Best of the Net (2019); Semifinalist, ITO EN Art of Haiku (multiple; 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020); Finalist, Kindle Book Award for Small Stones from the River (Poetry, 2018); Third Place, Connecticut Poetry Award (2016); Finalist, NHK (Japan) Haiku Masters (multiple; 2017, 2018); Finalist, New Haiku Grand Prix ITO EN North America Contest (2016).

Selected anthologies:
The Wanderer Brush (sumi-e haiga paintings of Ion Codrescu, Red Moon Press, 2020); wind flowers: the Red Moon Anthology of English Language Haiku (Jim Kacian, ed., Red Moon Press, 2019); Red River Book of Haibun (Steve Hodge and Paresh Tiwari, eds., Red River Press, 2019); Earth: Our Common Ground (Claire Everett, ed., Skylark Publishing, 2017); wild voices: an anthology of small poems and art by women (Caroline Skanne, ed., wildflower poetry press, 2016).

Press and interviews:
Featured poet (interview and reading) on Rattlecast 8 podcast (Rattle Magazine, September 10, 2019); “Shoreline Poet Sharing Her Work in Random Acts of Kindness” article about Small Stones from the River and the “Ripples of Kindness” project, published in ZIP06 and Connecticut shoreline newspapers (November 2017) Shore Publishing; two-page review of Moon Full of Moons by a clinical therapist: “Moon Full of Moons offers rich material for poetry therapy.” – Journal of Poetry Therapy: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Practice, Theory, Research and Education (2017), 30: 61-62; New Haven Magazine features Moon Full of Moons in its issue of Summer Beach Reads (July/Aug 2016).