Kate Washington is an essayist and writer in Northern California and the dining critic for The Sacramento Bee. Her first book, Already Toast: Caregiving and Burnout in America, is forthcoming from Beacon Press on March 16, 2021. The story of Washington’s struggle to care for her seriously ill husband, Already Toast offers a revealing look at the role unpaid family caregivers play in a society that fails to provide them with structural support. Already Toast shows how all-consuming caregiving can be, how difficult it is to find support, and how the social and literary narratives that have long locked women into providing emotional labor also keep them in unpaid caregiving roles.
Washington’s work includes creative nonfiction, essays, memoir, deeply researched longform pieces, and food writing and restaurant reviews including both pans and raves. In recent years, her work has appeared in The New York Times; Avidly; Bellingham Review; Brain, Child; Catapult; Dame; Eater; Hippocampus; McSweeney’s Internet Tendency; Ravishly; The Toast; Southwest: The Magazine; Sunset Magazine; Yoga Journal; The Washington Post; and more. She has also written a cooking advice column, The Kitchen Witch, for Edible Communities. (For a more complete portfolio, please visit the Writing page.) She has served as contributing writer at Sactown Magazine, the local editor for the Zagat Survey's guide to Sacramento restaurants, and associate food editor at Sunset Magazine. She holds a Ph.D. in Victorian literature from Stanford University and is a member of Les Dames d'Escoffier. She is represented by Beth Vesel of Beth Vesel Literary Agency.
For updates on Kate's book and other writings, subscribe to her newsletter or follow her on Twitter.
Washington’s work includes creative nonfiction, essays, memoir, deeply researched longform pieces, and food writing and restaurant reviews including both pans and raves. In recent years, her work has appeared in The New York Times; Avidly; Bellingham Review; Brain, Child; Catapult; Dame; Eater; Hippocampus; McSweeney’s Internet Tendency; Ravishly; The Toast; Southwest: The Magazine; Sunset Magazine; Yoga Journal; The Washington Post; and more. She has also written a cooking advice column, The Kitchen Witch, for Edible Communities. (For a more complete portfolio, please visit the Writing page.) She has served as contributing writer at Sactown Magazine, the local editor for the Zagat Survey's guide to Sacramento restaurants, and associate food editor at Sunset Magazine. She holds a Ph.D. in Victorian literature from Stanford University and is a member of Les Dames d'Escoffier. She is represented by Beth Vesel of Beth Vesel Literary Agency.
For updates on Kate's book and other writings, subscribe to her newsletter or follow her on Twitter.
