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Current Residence:
Maine
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Kathleen Cook
Published Author, Editor
Kathleen Cook began writing poems and short stories at an early age. At age eight, she sent one of her poems unaided to the Reader's Digest and claimed to be sixteen, believing that the magazine would take a "mature" writer more seriously. She received a very kind rejection letter from an amused editor. At twelve, Katy's work was evaluated by Mike Royko, a Chicago reporter who later found fame as a celebrated columnist. He called her a "diamond in the rough" and spurred her interest in writing as a career.
In 1964, Katy entered Harrison High as the youngest student in the honors program. Three months later, her mother pulled her out of school to avoid a court hearing, and the pair spent four years in six states and multiple cities running from the law, never staying in one place long enough for Katy to attend school. The experience set her education back by years but she eventually gained a GED and attended college.
In 1969 at age 18, Katy edited a weekly newsletter for the Port of Call, a Nazarene mission for homeless teens. After finishing her English studies at Rio Salado College in the 1980s, she became the Christian Education Director for St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Litchfield Park, while at the same time working as an Assistant Manager for Avon Products. At St. Peters, she produced many plays and eventually started publishing and editing her own articles as well as other authors' works.
Katy served as an editor for the Open Directory Project and later got a job as a copywriter/editor for Demand Studios, based in Santa Clara, California. In 2003 she attracted the attention of Ebay management and was offered an all-expense paid working vacation at Ebay headquarters in San Jose, California. There, she provided input and evaluated new policies and features.
A long-time freelance editor, Katy was the proofreader for the Arizona Authors Association newsletter from 2014-2016. She returned to the Arizona Authors Association in 2019 to serve as its newsletter editor, and in January of 2024 was elected president for a 4-year term. She is the author of more than twenty books and spends her free time writing, gardening, baking or with her four grown children.
PUBLICATIONS
The Sun Always Trumps features the St. Francis Gang, a priest and two nuns, who shield a young man wanted for murder while trying to prove his innocence. It will leave you wondering whether you're rooting for the murderer or the one accused, and maybe in the end, you'll find you want both to come out of this with their whole skin intact. While life doesn't always work that way, this book illustrates how "good" and "bad" can often be extremely complicated, and there are no perfect outcomes in real life or in books.
An autobiographical account of gain, loss, and the circle of life.
This is the story of the Calyr Elves in three worlds: Vnesha, Earth, and Adeer. Come and dream your clairvoyant dreams, and share a unique kinship with these Elves of magic and fantasy.
A companion to Doonal's Kin, this book relates the founding of Faerland and the original families who populated it, along with their descendents to the present day.
What Would Mom Do? is a book for grownups who aren't quite grown up when they lose their moms. For those young people who are technically adults, but who have no clue as to how to navigate life without Mom's help, this book will give them the advice and common sense solutions that Mom would have given them. When they lose their mom too early to cope but too late to have other adults responsible for them before they must venture on their own, this book may be the most practical comfort they can find.