Cathy Drinkwater Better

Cathy Drinkwater Better (married name: Cathy L. Walker)) is a longtime professional journalist and
columnist, author, and editor, and a widely published poet in many genres and forms. Since 1976, her
poetry and other work has been seen in literary journals, magazines, newspapers, and anthologies in the
U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, Romania, and Japan; as well as in online literary journals, newspapers,
and other publications. She has also published numerous photographs as a photojournalist, as well as
illustrations and other artwork.

Cathy has received numerous awards, for both poetry and journalism, including those from: the Society
of Professional Journalists, Maryland Professional Chapter; LCNI, Inc.; The Catholic Press Association;
and the Maryland-Delaware-District of Columbia Press Association (MDDC). Her most recent journalism
awards include: First Place, Local Column (Humor/Feature), 2008 MDDC Editorial Contest; 2007 First
Place First Place, Local Column (Humor/Feature) MDDC; 2006 First Place First Place, Local Column
(Humor/Feature) MDDC; and 2005 First Place, Local Column and “Best in Show" MDDC Editorial
Contest, for her newspaper column in The Westminster Eagle and The Eldersburg Eagle, published by  
the Patuxent Publishing Company.

Cathy is the author of numerous books for children and adults, including three collections of poetry: the
moon tonight (Los Hombres Press, 1996); and the sky is all there is (Astute Platypus Press, 1999); and
the chapbook set cat and human (Black Cat Press, 2002). Her first trade book, Don't Hit Your Brother
With Your Mouth Full (Acme Press, 1995) is a collection of 44 pieces taken from the first 10 years of
her newspaper column (1984–1994), during her tenure with LCNI, Inc., weekly and daily newspapers.
Her book Test Your Bible I.Q. (Random House Value Publishing, 1999) contains more than 1,200 bits of
Bible trivia in Q&A and puzzle formats. Her children’s books include hardcover picture books written in
rhyme—e.g., Excuse Me!: A Book All About Manners, Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001; and In
His Footsteps, Concordia Publishing House, 2000—as well as scores of early-learning, board-book, pop-
up, and activity sets, including several series of Cuddly Beasties™ early-learning pop-up books (Paradise
Press, 1999; Better Than Broccoli Books, 2004); large-sized storybook-coloring books for Sesame Street
(Color All About, 2006); and, most recently, two large-size trade pop-ups, A Day on Safari and A Day
on the Farm, and four storybooks in board book format in a set called "God's Little Zoo," both for Flying
Frog Publishing (2007).

Cathy’s diverse professional career included many years as a reporter, photographer, and weekly humor
columnist for a variety of daily and weekly newspapers in Maryland and Kentucky; a three-year stint as a
labor union communications specialist/writer/photographer; editorial director, editor, project manager and
in-house author for an international book producer, working on projects ranging from children’s books
and combination products to books on health and healing modalities, religion and New Age philosophy,
history, modern-day culture, historical reprints, and more; and production editor for the world’s largest
producer of medical, technical, and scientific journals. Since 2002, using her married name, Cathy L.
Walker, she has been the editor of The Medical Bulletin, a group of newspapers for physicians published
in the Baltimore Metro, Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia, and San Francisco Bay-Monterey-Napa
Valley areas by Black Ink Media LLC.

In 2007 Cathy marked 23 years as an award-winning newspaper and magazine humor columnist. She
has been writing her column for The Eldersburg Eagle and The Westminster Eagle, two weekly
newspapers in the Central Maryland region owned by Patuxent Publishing Company, since 2004; and is a
frequent humor ontributor to Carroll Magazine.Better continues to freelance as an editor, features writer,
book author, and photographer for print, digital, and online media projects in the U.S. and abroad.

Cathy's poetry and commentary on Asian poetry forms has appeared in the journals Modern Haiku,
Frogpond, Yellow Moon, Gusts, Ribbons, Wisteria, Hermitage, Eucalypt, Acorn, Simply Haiku, Modern
English Tanka, Heron's Nest and others since 1989.

With her husband, Doug Walker, Cathy co-owns Black Cat Press, publishing and producing limited-
edition collections of poetry and anthologies—including haiku, tanka, haibun, and senryu—by individual
poets and national and regional poetry organizations.

Cathy has taught creative writing for children and adults through private arts organizations, local schools,
government agencies, and the continuing education division of Baltimore County (Maryland) Public
Schools and the Community College of Baltimore County (Maryland). She also has served as a guest
speaker and presenter on a wide variety of writing and editorial topics for groups and organization. A
second-degree black belt in a shorinji-ryu style of karate, and an instructor in Yang Style t’ai chi ch’uan,
she has spent many years as a martial arts instructor, both for local recreation council programs and
private organizations.

A member of several U.S., Canadian, and Australian poetry organizations, in 2004 she co-founded of the
Haiku Poets of Central Maryland (HPCM) and helped to establish the annual Anita Sadler Weiss
Memorial Haiku Awards.

Cathy is a staunch supporter of the serial comma.
Cathy Drinkwater Better
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