A Conversation with Perugia’s Intern: Kate Hayes

In August, Kate Hayes completed a summer internship at Perugia Press, sponsored by the Praxis Program at Smith College. This is the seventh summer Perugia has been able to offer this internship, as a partnership between Perugia and Smith College. Jean Blakeman, Perugia Press board president, conducted an interview with Kate about her experience as a Perugia intern and as a poet.

Q: What first brought you to poetry?

A: I came to poetry somewhat late compared to many of my peers. In my senior year of high school, in my literature class, I received an assignment to analyze a poem from a list of canonical writers. I chose Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy,” in part because she was one of the few women on the list, and also because I knew Plath was a writer who inspired a lot of discourse. I was stunned by how much rage and passion Plath was able to distill into this short poem, which seemed a stark contrast to the quiet, meditative poems I read throughout high school. I was also intrigued by the various issues that it raised—how were women in the 1960s allowed to express themselves? What does it mean that Plath is appropriating certain struggles as a metaphor for her trauma? I will always love that poem, if only for how thought-provoking it is.

Q: How did you first encounter Perugia Press?

A: I was aware of Perugia through events held at the Boutelle-Day Poetry Center, but I first became truly interested in working with the press last fall when Editor/Director Becky Olander gave a talk to my Nine Syllables Press publishing class. Soon after, I sought out Becky to discuss an internship, which led to me joining the press this summer.

Q: What have you been involved with so far at the press?

A: One of my favorite parts about the internship has been the breadth of experience I’ve gained by working on multiple, varied projects. To give a few examples, I developed a comprehensive marketing plan for Perugia alongside my co-intern Apple Gilmore, designed social media graphics, drafted a classroom guide (which I then also worked on collaboratively with Apple) and numerous writing prompts, shot a “Flux and Flow” poetry film on a poem from Lynne Thompson’s Beg No Pardon, conducted outreach to literary organizations and programs, and created resource guides for Perugia authors.

Q: What are some things that stay with you from the books you’ve been working with?

A: Most of my responsibilities this summer were tied to the release of Jen Siraganian’s Everything Has Been Moved, Even the Dead, winner of the 2026 Perugia Press Prize. Everything Has Been Moved is a fantastic book, and I’ve had the opportunity to be closely involved with the book from the beginning—before my internship started, I volunteered as one of two student judges for the contest and advocated for the manuscript to move forward to the final round. I was struck by the collection’s remarkable voice, and, despite its brutal subject matter, a surprising sense of play. I’m pretty sure that “Searching for Neil Diamond in Jerusalem” will always be one of my favorite poems.

Q: Other than being Perugia’s intern, tell us a bit about yourself.

A: Not long ago, I was asked in a workshop about my “non-academic” interests and I struggled to find an answer that wasn’t in some way connected to reading and writing. I recently purchased a trampoline on Facebook Marketplace which has been taking up a lot of my time. I’ve also been journaling, learning how to play the guitar, collecting stuff, and looking at Wikipedia articles or Craigslist Missed Connections. I was raised in Santa Cruz, California and Austin, Texas. I’m a junior at Smith College studying English with a concentration in poetry, and I work at the Boutelle-Day Poetry Center. I write a lot, and I have a new poem out in the journal Autocorrect. This coming spring, I’ll be spending a semester abroad in Dublin, where I plan to take courses in Irish literature and poetry.

Q: Do you have a favorite poet? Or a favorite poet of the moment?

A: “Favorite poet”—like “favorite book”—is always an impossible question, and I could name dozens. Sylvia Plath originated my love for poetry, but these days I’m reading and rereading Natalie Shapero, Morgan Parker, Anne Sexton, Eileen Myles, Taylor Johnson, and Frank O’Hara. Even that list feels short. I’m most interested in poetry about alienation and daily living and systems and how those things might interact. 

Q: Perugia’s work centers on highlighting the work of women writers. Do you see a connection between the mission of the press and that of Smith College, where you are a student?

A: Of course, Perugia and Smith have similar missions of providing opportunities to women, although I’m hesitant to draw comparisons between the two considering the fact that Perugia is a small nonprofit and Smith is a multi-billion-dollar institution which has continuously failed to meet student demands for financial transparency, particularly when it comes to investments in defense companies. I don’t consider it a more benevolent institution simply because it is a women’s college. At the same time, I love Smith and think it provides a singular environment for learning—I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

Q: How do you see poetry fitting into your life as you move forward?

A: My life at Smith has revolved around poetry, and I doubt that will change when I graduate. This summer, I had the amazing opportunity of attending the Bucknell Seminar for Undergraduate Poets, a program which provides funding for undergraduate poets across the nation to travel to Bucknell and work on their writing. I was able to spend a week in community with some of the most brilliant writers I’ve ever met, which got me to seriously think about attending a graduate program for creative writing. So, that’s what I plan to do. I don’t know what might come after, but I do know that for the short time I have been reading and writing poetry, it has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life, and I want to continue doing it as much as I can.

Editor’s note: It was wonderful to work with Kate Hayes this past summer – a great match was made between Smith, Kate, and Perugia Press! Thanks to Jean Blakeman for conducting this interview, to Smith for funding the internship through Praxis, and to Kate for your thoughtful, creative, and engaged work.