Tania Katan

Tania Katan
File:Photograph of Tania Katan.jpg
Born	September 28, 1971
Alma mater	Arizona State University
Occupation	Writer, Performer, Activist
Notable work	My One-Night Stand With Cancer: A Memoir, #ItWasNeverADress: Campaign
Awards	Stonewall Book Award, Publishing Triangle Award, and Lambda Literary Award
Website	http://www.taniakatan.com/

Tania Katan (born, 1971) is an award-winning author, playwright, public speaker, activist, and performer. She is known for creating and producing programs at Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, like Arm Wrestling For Art and Lit Lounge. Katan's writing and creative works use humor to challenge notions of gender, voice, family and illness. Katan is known in the tech world for the #ItWasNeverADress campaign which strives to shift perceptions of women in male-dominated fields. Katan's battle with cancer led her to write for the cancer-awareness initiative Stand Up to Cancer as well as publish her first memoir My One-Night Stand With Cancer. She eventually adapted the memoir into a one-woman show, Saving Tania's Privates.

Career

Author

Katan's memoir, My One-Night Stand With Cancer, has received the Stonewall Book Award, Publishing Triangle Award, and Lambda Literary Award. She is also the author of Pop (Childhood 6 of 1), her most recent memoir which was published in 2015. Her writings can also be found in other publications, such as The Huffington Post and The Advocate, and Stand Up to Cancer's website.

Playwright

While studying theatre at Arizona State University, Katan wrote her first play Stages. It was produced at University of Connecticut and received staged readings at American Stage Theatre Company and Circle Repertory. Stages met with positive reviews. Her solo-show Saving Tania’s Privates made its New York debut at Frigid New York Festival in 2011 where it won Audience Choice Award for Best Show and the Sold Out Run Award. Katan’s plays and solo-performance have also appeared at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Circle Repertory Theatre of NOTE, and the Renberg Theatre. Her work has gained national recognition. Publications such as New York Times, Huffington Post, DIVA Magazine, The Scotsman, The Advocate have all written about her work.

#ItWasNeverADress Campaign

External video
“Tania Katan - It Was Never a Dress: The Power of a Poetic Leap of Faith!”, TEDx
“Tania Katan - The Power of Voice: Survivability, Sustainability and Nudity”, TEDxScottsdale

Tania Katan is one of the co-creators for #ItWasNeverADress. This campaign is focused on addressing gender inequality in the technology industry and beyond. The Scottsdale-based software company Axosoft is doing away with the age-old symbol of a generic lady in a dress, as seen on women's bathroom's, and instead replacing the "triangle dress" with a superhero cape. Katan first came up with the idea as a part of an inaugural Girls In Tech Catalyst Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. Katan was asked to create an empowering campaign for women in tech, which led to her new take on the traditional female symbol. #ItWasNeverADress hopes to spark conversations about gender norms, not only by encouraging women to be more involved in STEM fields, but also by raising important points about representation of the LGBT community. This campaign became an Internet sensation, picked up by national news outlets such as CNN, The New York Times, TIME magazine and Yahoo!

External links

• Tania Katan's Personal Blog
• Youtube Channel
• TEDx Talk (#ItWasNeverADress)
• TEDx Talk (My One Night Stand With Cancer)