User:KWEditor42/C. D. Collins (Author)

Photograph of C.D. Collins from the Faulkner Morgan Archive.

Early Life

Cherie “CD” Collins was born in rural Kentucky, in the Mt. Sterling area. She describes her family as working class farmers and construction workers. She received a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Kentucky before moving to Boston, Massachusetts to study at Harvard University Extension. When she was ten years old, she suffered burns from an underground pipeline explosion, and testified in a documentary about it. She also used this incident as a basis for her novel Afterburn, in which a young girl named Ruby Chambers and her family were burned in a gas explosion similar to how CD herself was burned. Growing up around the coal industry inspired CD to create a spoken word album entitled Clean Coal Big Lie about her perception of the coal industry and its effects on her home.

Collins taught English in Kentucky before moving to Boston in 1986. She attributes this move to one of her students encouraging her to pursue her writing career. The move was a significant adjustment for her, and she said she even contracted Seasonal Affective Disorder as a result of the change in weather. She continued to work on her art, most prominently spoken word, and is credited with helping the 1990s rise of spoken word poetry with music in Boston.

When CD was sixteen, she put a down payment on a Victorian farmhouse in Eastern Kentucky. She was able to hold onto it and make it into a writer's getaway called the Savannah Retreat. According to CD, many writers lack the luxury of silence, and this is what she aims to mitigate with the Savannah Retreat. She also aims to establish a nature sanctuary in honor of her late mother on the property.

Savanah Retreat (Lula T. Collins Wildlife Sanctuary)

The Lula T. Collins Wildlife Sanctuary is a wildlife sanctuary dedicated to her late mother. It is located in Eastern Kentucky on her property Savannah Retreat.

Musical Career

Collins started a band called Rockabetty with fellow musicians, John Minkle and Yani Batteau. Some of their albums include Subtracting Down, Carousel Lounge, Clean Coal, Big Lie, and Night Animals.

Feline Children

Collins has three cats, which she refers to as her “feline children.” Billy Marshmallow Collins is a Chocolate Lynx Himalayan born in London KY. She claims he converted to Islam and has talked with a cat psychic. Lily Rubin Malzman Collins is also a Chocolate Lynx Himalayan. She claims Lily has eaten George W. Bush, supposedly he tasted like chicken. She also claims Lily is Jewish. Savannah May Collins is a Seal-point Himalayan. She claims Savannah is a “fundamentalist Christian gospel singer.”