Katherine Marsh (1974-20??) grew up in a New York City suburb that was 29 minutes by train to Grand Central Terminal. An only child of divorced parents, she spent a lot of time reading, trading stories with her grandmother who had run a bar in New York, and talking--with her best middle school friend--to Truman Capote and other dead New Yorkers on a Ouija Board. In seventh grade, her mother convinced her to start taking Latin. An embarrassing translation error ended her Latin career three years later but the time she spent with magisters Ellis and Philips instilled in her a lifelong love of etymology and hatred of grammar.

After surviving high school, Katherine went to Yale where she studied English literature. Upon graduation, however, she discovered that openings for poets were scarce and took a job teaching ninth and twelfth grade English at not just any Connecticut boarding school but her alma mater. Having finally had enough of high school, in 1998, she left for New York City.

There, while living in a two-bedroom apartment in Soho with four people and a pinball machine, she began her career as a journalist. Her first job was at Good Housekeeping where she kept the messiest desk in the history of the magazine. She spent two years writing for Rolling Stone though not about music (so please don’t send her your garage band demo tapes) but about kids and their lives across the country. She also began writing about New York people and places for the City Section of The New York Times.

One day in 2000, she went on a blind date with a New York Times reporter who a few years later shed his affiliation and lured her away to Washington, D.C. After many stages of grief, Katherine has come to realize that she can live happily in a city that is not New York. After working as an editor at the Washington City Paper and as managing editor of The New Republic magazine, Katherine finally took the plunge and became a full-time kid's writer/ observer of a kid (her son Alek). She lives with her husband, Julian, Alek, and their two cats, Egg and Scotty in Chevy Chase, D.C. (R.I.P. Amuse Bouche--Scotty's former fish.) But if you live in New York and keep your eyes peeled you may occasionally spot her back at one of her old haunts.

And now for an....

Author Interview!!!

(inspired by real questions from kids like you--email me if you have a question of any kind you'd like me to answer and I'll add it!)

Me: How many books have you written?

Me: You should know that by now. But the answer is two. Plus that first one I keep in a drawer. And the two more I'm working on. I would tell you more about them but them I'd have to kill you and then there wouldn't be any more books. Suffice it to say that you haven't read the last of me!

Me: Will there be a third book in The Night Tourist series?

Me: That depends on how many threatening letters you send to my publisher (that would be Disney/ Hyperion at 114 Fifth Avenue, NY, NY 10011).

Me: Who is your favorite character in The Night Tourist books?

Me: I think Euri would be pretty upset if I didn't choose her.

Me: Why did you become a writer?

Me: I'm pretty bad at most everything else (especially math and sports). I read a lot. I worry a lot. I can imagine some pretty crazy things happening to an ordinary person like me. I will never recover from being 14.

Me: What are some of your favorite books?

Island of the Blue Dolphins, Walk Two Moons, Octavian Nothing, The Graveyard Book, Harry Potter, the Pigeon Books by Mo Willems.

Me: How did you come up with the idea for The Night Tourist books?

Me: I used to take the train into Grand Central when I was a kid (see above). I am also an only child who growing up hung out with a lot of old people (okay mom, not you!) who told stories about the past. Death and ghosts just seemed a big part of life.

Me: Do you believe in ghosts?

Me: I think there is one in my bedroom closet who turns the light on when I get into bed so I have to get up and turn it off again. A poltergeist, maybe?

Upcoming Appearances!

Upcoming appearances include Magical New York, a panel at Manhattan's fabulous children's bookstore Books of Wonder (18 West 18th Street) on Saturday, September 26 from 12-2 p.m. and the Texas Book Festival in Austin on October 31, (where I will also visit the students of Pillow Elementary on October 30). This fall, I will also be visiting schools in the greater Washington, D.C. area including the Washington Latin School, St Albans School, Oyster-Adams Bilingual School and Garrison Forrest School. I am largely booked for the 2009 year but please contact me if you are interested in arranging a visit to your school, conference, or book club in 2010. In addition, if you have a question, request, or comment about my books, please remember that I always welcome correspondence--especially from young readers.

--Katherine Marsh