Poets Square
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  • Published: 8 May 2025
  • ISBN: 9781405978736
  • Imprint: Penguin Audio
  • Format: Audio Download
  • RRP: $28.00
Categories:

Poets Square

A Memoir in Thirty Cats

  • Courtney Gustafson
Formats & editions
Hardback
23 Jul 2025
EBook
8 May 2025
Audiobook
8 May 2025
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A beautifully written memoir-in-essays about accidentally rescuing a colony of feral cats, and what cats can teach us about creating community and giving care.

The morning after Courtney Gustafson moved into an old house in the Poets Square neighbourhood of Tucson, Arizona, she noticed tiny pawprints all over her driveway. They were the first evidence of a colony of feral cats who would, in time, become part of her family, expand her world spectacularly, and help pierce a personal darkness she’d wrestled with for much of her life.

Beebs was the first cat to appear, allowing herself to be petted in the driveway. And then came so many others. There was Monkey, the hissing, dark-blotched calico, and Reverse Monkey, her timid, white-blotched opposite. There were Sad Boy and Lola, the inseparable pair who made their way across the internet and into strangers’ wedding vows. There was the sweet, serene Dr. Big Butt, who brought lessons about grief. And there was Goldie: sick, skinny, but completely unafraid. The tiny king of Poets Square.

Poets Square is a love letter to community in a broken society, told through the cats Courtney meets in dark alleys, neglected homes and her own driveway; cats she cherishes and must sometimes let go. Above all, she explores what her encounters with feral cats have taught her about care, connectedness and the power of hope.
  • Published: 8 May 2025
  • ISBN: 9781405978736
  • Imprint: Penguin Audio
  • Format: Audio Download
  • RRP: $28.00
Categories:

Praise for Poets Square

Courtney Gustafson writes with uncommon grace about the castoff, the abandoned, the invisible. This book should be read and treasured for its ability to make the reader more human and humane

Lauren Slater, author of Blue Dreams

Deftly intertwined with the individual stories of all these cats is her own story of how she got there … She is clear-eyed about the deviation of her life … I read this in two days and loved it

Esther Walker, The Spike

Cats are mystical beings, bridging the spiritual and the tangible. Courtney Gustafson’s Poet Square is a book that helps us connect to this spiritual world, offering a bridge to the ethereal

Ai Weiwei

Truly moving; a heartfelt exploration of the humanity at the heart of animal welfare. Courtney masterfully weaves together stories of cats with stories of her own life and the lives of her community members—raw, flawed, and striving for goodness in a complex world. Her journey from cat observer to dedicated caregiver and community builder is profoundly inspiring

Hannah Shaw, New York Times bestselling author of Cats of the World

Poets Square is charming and tender, funny-sad, quirky in the best possible way. It’s a story about care and compassion and acts of kindness big and small. I flew through it – and I’m not even a cat person

Chloë Ashby, author of Wet Paint