Kate Brauning is an author of young adult thrillers with a twist of the unusual, including The Ballad of Dinah Caldwell, How We Fall and the short story “Godzilla Girls.” As a child, she spent a lot of time in her local library, wandering the shelves and discovering all kinds of stories about all kinds of people. She grew up in the hills of Missouri on twenty acres with a big pear tree, cats, dogs, chickens, rabbits, and bottle calves. An incurable love for seeing real life through the pages of a book drew her to writing fiction, and at fifteen she decided she wanted someone to find her own books by searching through the shelves of a library. She’s been writing ever since.

Currently Kate lives in Austin, Texas, with her family and her Siberian husky, Willow. In her spare time, she travels, works on her baking skills, hunts down new music, and reads just about everything. Kate loves people, dark chocolate, snorkeling, feminism, everything about autumn, bright colors, grassroots social action, red maple trees, superstitions, advocating for human rights, ghost stories, night skies, equality, pie, and talking about books. She’s working hard on her next few novels, and if you see her, say hello, because she’d love to take you out for coffee and ask you what you’re reading.

For more about Kate, browse around the site using the menu above and follow her on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, or subscribe to her newsletter.

FAQ

1. Do you have favorite tv shows?

I love great stories no matter what format they're told in. Some favorites: The Office, Battlestar Galactica, The Killing, Friday Night Lights, Parks & Rec, Parenthood, Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, Arrested Development, Mad Men, Shameless, The Walking Dead, The Great British Baking Show.

2. So do you really like zombies and baking then?

Yes, I really do. I've been baking since I was old enough to use the oven, and I've loved monster fiction ever since I first read Frankenstein.

3. What was the first book you ever wrote?

When I was about seven, I wrote a picture book about a duck and a goat who couldn't get along. I kept discovering I needed to use words I couldn't spell, though, so I used stickers for those words. My current books don't use stickers, but maybe one day.

4. Where did you grow up?

I grew up in northwest Missouri, exactly where I set my book How We Fall. Read it, and you'll discover all kinds of cool things about the area. I still miss creek water and cicadas.

5. Where Do you live now?

I live in Austin, Texas. It’s a big city with a small town feel and amazing barbecue.

6. What stuff do you get really excited about?

Naps, meeting readers, pie, civic engagement, books, traveling, bright colors, aquariums, my nieces and nephews, learning weird things no one else cares about, concerts, music.

7. What kind of music?

Some favorites: Florence + The Machine, Twenty-One Pilots, Eminem, Gin Wigmore, Troye Sivan, Halsey, Brandi Carlile, The National, Hayley Kiyoko, Lady Gaga, Macklemore, Regina Spektor, Sam Smith, The Civil Wars, Emeli Sande, Switchfoot, Passenger, Mumford & Sons, Queen, Birdy, Lily Allen, Kate Nash.

8. So you're bisexual?

That's true! I'm thrilled to be who I am, and bisexuality is something I'm happy to talk about. A lot of great people helped me make sense of my faith and my orientation: Human Rights Campaign, Gay Christian Network, Bisexual Resource Center.

9.. You said you like to travel. Where have you been?

I've been on a road-trip from British Columbia to Alberta, traveled around Tuscany and Umbria in Italy for a month, went to Spain for a weekend and got my luggage stolen in Barcelona, hiked around Costa Rica for three weeks (I walked a bridge through the rainforest canopy and saw sloths!), and visited my sister-in-law where she lives in Torreón (in Coahuila, Mexico). I've also been to the Dominican Republic several times to visit the rest of my in-laws. The D.R. is a great country with beautiful beaches, incredible botanical gardens in Santo Domingo, and forested mountains that are amazing to hike through. I highly recommend a visit.

10. Do you do school visits?

I love school visits. I'm always happy to speak at book clubs, conferences, schools, and college campuses. I'm also happy to do Skype visits with classrooms, book clubs, and other groups. The contact page in the menu above (top of the page, to the left) shows how to get in touch with me.

11. Do you have any suggestions for how to become an author?

I definitely do. I also work in publishing as an editor, so the menu at the very top of the page has a link to my editor website. There are a lot of resources there for writers.