Growing up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Kate always saw her parents reading books and newspapers. So she quickly learned that words were powerful and storytelling was important.

When she was in the fourth grade (rocking the freckles in the photo here!), Kate knew she wanted to become a writer. Her teacher, Miss Tucker, had students craft mysteries in the spirit of Encyclopedia Brown, and the bravest of the class read them out loud each Friday. She was hooked!

Kate loved language. She loved interesting people. And she was very nosy. So she worked on school newspapers in middle school, high school, and college, and then she went on to work at daily newspapers in different cities around the country — including The Dallas Morning News and The San Francisco Chronicle.

​Now Kate lives in Chicago with her own family. She still loves language and interesting people, and she’s still nosy. So she spends time researching and writing fiction and nonfiction for readers like you. If you want to learn more, go to the About page.