Kate is one of 24 authors whose essays were published in The Summer Book, a compendium of reflections on nature and the human spirit inspired by the summertime in British Columbia. The book was released this year by Mother Tongue Publishing.
The Tyee has published three of the essays on their website, including Kate’s essay Losing the Mirror.
On April 14, 2025, Joseph Planta interviewed Kate about her new book The Erotics of Cutting Grass: Reflections from a Well-Loved Life.
When: Wednesday, August 27, 2025, 7pm (doors open at 6:30 pm)
Where: Café Fantastico, Victoria, BC
Cost: Free
Kate will be reading from her latest book, The Erotics of Cutting Grass: Reflections from a Well-Loved Life. A memoir about some of the highlights (and lowlights) of aging. She will be joined by Daniela Elza.
When: Tuesday, August 26, 2025, 5 – 7 pm
Where: Nanaimo Harbourfront Library, Nanaimo, BC
Cost: Free
Kate will be reading from her latest book, The Erotics of Cutting Grass: Reflections from a Well-Loved Life. A memoir about some of the highlights (and lowlights) of aging. She will be joined by Daniela Elza.
When: Monday, August 25, 2025, Time TBD
Where: Tofino Community Hall, 351 Arnet Road, Tofino
Cost: Free
Kate will be reading from her latest book, The Erotics of Cutting Grass: Reflections from a Well-Loved Life. A memoir about some of the highlights (and lowlights) of aging. She will be joined by Daniela Elza.
When: Saturday, July 19, 2025 at 7pm
Where: Nelson Public Library, 602 Stanley Street, Nelson, BC
Cost: Free
Kate will be reading from her latest book, The Erotics of Cutting Grass: Reflections from a Well-Loved Life. A memoir about some of the highlights (and lowlights) of aging. She will be joined by Tom Wayman.
When: Thursday, July 17, 2025 at 7pm
Where: Nakusp Library, 92 6th Avenue NW, Nakusp, BC
Cost: Free
Kate will be reading from her latest book, The Erotics of Cutting Grass: Reflections from a Well-Loved Life. A memoir about some of the highlights (and lowlights) of aging. She will be joined by Tom Wayman.
When: Tuesday May 27, 2025, Time TBD
Where: Munro Books, 1108 Government Street, Victoria, BC, Victoria, BC
Cost: Free
Kate will be reading from her latest book, The Erotics of Cutting Grass: Reflections from a Well-Loved Life. A memoir about some of the highlights (and lowlights) of aging. She will be joined by Moira Dann.
When: Friday May 16, 2025, 6:30pm
Where: Upstart & Crow Books, 1387 Railspur Alley, Vancouver
Cost: Free
Kate will be reading from her latest book, The Erotics of Cutting Grass: Reflections from a Well-Loved Life. A memoir about some of the highlights (and lowlights) of aging.
With an interview by Rob Taylor.
When: Thursday, May 15, 2025, 7pm
Where: Cross & Crows Bookstore, 2836 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, BC
Cost: Free
Kate will be reading from her latest book, The Erotics of Cutting Grass: Reflections from a Well-Loved Life. A memoir about some of the highlights (and lowlights) of aging.
When: Wednesday, May 14, 2025, 6pm
What: Twisted Poets Literary Salon with five poets from Geographies of the Heart: Stories from Newcomers to Canada and open mic
Where: Britannia Library, 1661 Napier Street, Vancouver, BC
Cost: Free
Kate will be reading from her latest book, The Erotics of Cutting Grass: Reflections from a Well-Loved Life. A memoir about some of the highlights (and lowlights) of aging. She will be joined by four other poets.
When: Friday May 2, 2025, 7:30pm
What: Planet Earth Poetry, Kate Braid and Thomas Doerksen
Where: Russell Books, #100 – 747 Fort Street, Victoria, BC
Cost: Free
Kate will be reading from her latest book, The Erotics of Cutting Grass: Reflections from a Well-Loved Life. A memoir about some of the highlights (and lowlights) of aging. She will be joined by Thomas Doerksen.
Kate Braid has never been one to follow the beaten path. In 1977, she broke barriers by stepping—or rather, stumbling—into the male-dominated world of construction. With two beloved memoirs, Journeywoman: Swinging a Hammer in a Man’s World and Hammer & Nail: Notes of a Journeywoman, she’s shared her journey as a trailblazer in the trades. Now, Kate is back with her signature blend of guts, wit, and warmth, tackling the fresh territory of women, bodies, and aging in her latest memoir, The Erotics of Cutting Grass.
Forget everything you think you know about growing older. Kate Braid’s perspective is anything but conventional. In these love stories to life and living, Kate dismantles the tired clichés about aging and the female body. From weightlifting in her senior years to questioning why older people in love are seen as “cute,” but not “hot,” and even delving into the mysteries of “remembering” past lives, Kate’s stories are a refreshing take on what it means to age with audacity.
Travel with Kate as she adventures through France, still gets “checked out” on the street, picks up a new instrument, and has a secret love-affair with a ride-on Husqvarna grass cutter. She also navigates the role of step-mother and contemplates how second- and third-generation immigrants in a new world can truly make this land feel like home. Each chapter is filled with insight, candour, and a rebellious spirit that’s sure to resonate with non-traditional women who refuse to be defined by society’s expectations.
The Erotics of Cutting Grass is a celebration of life’s later chapters, written with the same unique mix of humour, frankness, and vulnerability Kate’s readers have come to know and love. Join her on this smart, thought-provoking journey that redefines what it means to embrace ageing on your own terms.
On April 14, 2025, Joseph Planta interviewed Kate about this new book. You can listen to the interview here.
“In her new book, Kate Braid brings into engaging focus aspects of her multifaceted life as writer, journeyed carpenter, teacher, wife, stepmother, grandmother and more. Encounters with French culture and cuisine, fears of singing solo, and the advantages of growing older are, like the rest of her subject matter, explored with an impressive emotional clarity and sturdiness of thought: ‘All my life I’ve tried my hand at anything that popped up, everything that got me curious.’ But even more, she demonstrates a masterful ability to transmute into words her skills at observation. Followers of every trade—including carpenter and writer—learn where and how to look in order to improve their own craft.… As a result, we readers get to enjoy her stories, to marvel at how she processes whatever she encounters, and to come away wiser.”
—Tom Wayman, author of The Road to Appledore or How I Went Back to the Land Without Ever Having Lived There in the First Place
“When have I ever read a book that asks so many questions? The Erotics of Cutting Grass is the latest magical collection of meditations by the profoundly curious and beloved Canadian poet and memoirist Kate Braid. Wide and rangy, it investigates an array of topics through an intimate lens. It’s like someone whispering huge secrets right into your ear. Reflecting on music, relationships, work, spirituality, aging, language, art, and travel, this small book covers a lot of ground. At its heart, The Erotics of Cutting Grass is a body memoir, and a party, revelling in the physical sensations of taste, touch, sound, scent and image, with the voice and skill of a celebrated poet.”
—Hilary Peach, author of Thick Skin: Field Notes from a Sister in the Brotherhood and BOLT
When: Wednesday, April 30, 2025 at 1pm
Where: 4407 Bedwell Harbour Road, North Pender Island, BC
Cost: Free
This is the book launch for Kate’s latest book, The Erotics of Cutting Grass: Reflections from a Well-Loved Life. A memoir about some of the highlights (and lowlights) of aging.
When: Saturday, April 20, 2024, at 7pm
Where: People’s Co-Op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, BC
Cost: Free
Kate will be reading at a launch of a new poetry anthology, Cascadia Zen.
Other readers will be the book’s editors, Paul Nelson, Jason Wirth and Adelia MacWilliam, along with Daphne Marlatt and Jami Macarty.
Come enjoy Saturday evening with some poetry and good company!