English Alum – Cathy Fisher, Writer, Shares Her Experiences
Degree and Year: BA 2007
Professional Title: Writer
Employer: Self-Employed
As a Duke student, I decided early on that I'd major in English, after flirting briefly with the pre-med track. I graduated in 2007 with a Major in English (High Distinction for my Senior Thesis), Minor in Political Science, Certificate in Journalism.
I took my first poetry seminar during my Freshman Spring semester with Professor Gopen, and what we learned around that small seminar table stays with me still and serves me well each time I write. I later went on to take another seminar with Professor Gopen, as I recall, with a fair amount of focus on T. S. Eliot, and this made me a lover of poetry.
At Duke, I studied Creative Writing for the first time, and seminars with Professor Faulkner Fox and Professor Christina Askounis had a profound impact on me. I recall vividly a seminar with Professor Reynolds Price on Bible translations, a course with Professor Paletz on film, Professor Victor Strandberg on William Faulkner ... I could go on. The curriculum was a dream and a privilege!
The Honors Thesis program was one of the richest experiences I had as a Duke student. I was given the support and freedom to explore a subject that fascinated me in a genre I was compelled to experiment with. My thesis was a work of creative nonfiction that explored illness and was specifically anchored in my diagnosis with type 1 diabetes as a Freshman at Duke. My peer group in the Honors Thesis Program was inspiring and humbling. My peers were so tremendously talented! I still remember some of their writing. Professor Christina Askounis was insightful, helpful and generous, and welcomed the Honors group into her home for workshop sessions that remain vivid and unique experiences. The Honors Thesis program taught me to begin thinking like a writer, and the skills I learned continue to serve me now. I am confident that my work for the Masters in Creative Writing at Cambridge will be superbly-informed by my time at Duke. Topics that interest me: the body! In illness and health. Gender and feminism, in particular, a life lived across cultures and countries.
Upon graduation from Duke, I went on to study law at the University of Pennsylvania in a joint degree program, graduating in 2010 with a JD from U. Penn and a Masters in Global Business Law from SciencesPo in Paris.
After completing law school, I began working in Paris as an entry-level attorney, practicing US corporate and securities law for a large international law firm. My work took me from Paris to the London headquarters in 2012. In 2014, I moved to Lisbon, Portugal along with my Duke sweetheart (also '07). I started a small wines business involved in importing wine to the United States. At the time I left law to start my business, I sought more time to pursue the things that bring me pleasure: autonomy, disconnection with Blackberries of all sorts, and space to peruse lifelong passions - good reading, good writing (I run a blog called valkfisher.com). In October of this year, I'll be enrolling at The University of Cambridge to begin a Masters in Creative Writing to continue my more formal pursuit of creative writing, and I look forward to what's to come from there.
In exciting recent news, I’ve just enrolled at The University of Cambridge for a Masters in Creative Writing, which begins in October. Duke was instrumental in preparing me for the Masters, and the Honors Thesis program I participated in as a Duke Senior had a special impact. I look forward to being more involved as an alumna of the Duke English department!
I am so grateful to Duke for my years there! I am particularly grateful to the English Department for the opportunity to learn at such a high level from excellent teachers.
