Kaya Oakes

Kaya Oakes (she/her) has been a lecturer in College Writing since 2000. She teaches R1A, R4A, R4B, and a variety of creative nonfiction courses. She is the author of six books, most recently including Not So Sorry: Abusers, False Apologies, and the Limits of Forgiveness (Broadleaf Books: 2024), The Defiant Middle: How Women Claim Life's In Betweens To Remake the World (Broadleaf Books: 2021, one of Sojourners' 2021 Books to Inspire Faith and Justice), The Nones Are Alright (Orbis Books: 2015, Religion News Association best books finalist), Radical Reinvention (Counterpoint Press: 2012), and Slanted and Enchanted (Henry Holt: 2009, San Francisco Chronicle Notable Book). Her essays and journalism have appeared in The New Republic, Slate, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy,Sojourners, On Being, and many other publications. She is also a contributing editor at Killing the Buddha, and she writes a column for The Revealer, a publication of NYU's Center for Religion and Media. In 2016, she was among a group of international writers who traveled to the Vatican to study reporting on religion in politically tumultous times. Kaya was selected as Religion News Service's 2021 recipient for best commentary writing.

At Berkeley, she was the recipient of an innovation grant and a faculty fellowship from the Mellon Faculty Institute for Undergraduate Research, and twice received a Lecturer Teaching Fellowship. She has designed and co-designed several courses including College Writing 131: Introduction to Creative Nonfiction, CW 131N: Cultural Critique, and CW 130: Introduction to Creative Writing. Kaya teaches composition and research courses on themes including music and social movements, gender, social inequality, and much more. Her teaching pedagogy focuses on helping students discover their agency and voice as well as igniting student interest in social issues as they apply to writing across the disciplines. She holds an MFA in creative writing and has done postgraduate work in writing, education, and psychology. Her books are widely taught in courses on creative nonfiction, gender and religion, and she travels frequently to colleges and conferences to speak and guest teach, but mostly enjoys spending time in her hometown of Oakland, California, where she still lives.