Cate McGowan writes fiction, poetry, and essays. She is the author of Sacrificial Steel (Driftwood Press, 2025), winner of the Driftwood Editors’ Pick Poetry Prize, Writing Is Revision: Compositions from the Feminist Fringe (Brill, 2025), the novel These Lowly Objects, and the story collection True Places Never Are, winner of the Moon City Press Short Fiction Award and a finalist for the Lascaux Prize. Her shorter work has appeared in Flash Fiction International (W. W. Norton), Glimmer Train, Shenandoah, North American Review, and elsewhere. Recent honors include second place in the Oxford Flash Fiction Prize and first place in Glossy Planet’s 2026 “Cult of Productivity” challenge. She lives in Florida with her husband and several deeply opinionated pets.
Stories in Smokelong Quarterly
Story:
Escape Route
Interview: Smoke Signals with Cate McGowan
Interviewer in Smokelong Quarterly
Interview: Smoke and Mirrors: An Interview with Kelsey Wiora
Interview: Smoking With Dan Leach
In September 2022 SmokeLong launched a workshop environment/community christened SmokeLong Fitness. This acclaimed community workshop is happening right now on our dedicated workshop site. If you choose to join us, you will work in a small group of around 15-20 participants to give and receive feedback on flash narratives.