Kathleen Alcalá

Kathleen Alcalá is a writer whose trilogy on nineteenth century Mexico was published by Chronicle Books. Her work has received the Western States Book Award, the Governor's Writers Award, a Pacific Northwest Bookseller's Award, and a Washington State Book Award. A co-founder and contributing editor to The Raven Chronicles, Kathleen teaches at the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts on Whidbey Island, a low-residency program. She was recently deemed an Island Treasure by the Bainbridge Island Arts and Humanities Council.

Kathleen received an Artist Trust/​Washington State Arts Commission Award for work on her book, Cities of Gold. Her work was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and her most recent book received a Latino International Book Award and a ForeWord Magazine Award.

Kathleen is a member of Los Norteños writers group. Her work has been produced for public radio, and she co-wrote, with director Olga Sanchez, a play based on her novel, Spirits of the Ordinary that was produced by The Miracle Theatre of Portland, Oregon.

Kathleen is the author of a short story collection, Mrs. Vargas and the Dead Naturalist, and three novels: Spirits of the Ordinary, The Flower in the Skull, and Treasures in Heaven. Her collection of essays, The Desert Remembers My Name is available from the University of Arizona Press, and her previous books are all available in paperback.

Her latest story appears in Seattle Noir from Akashic Books.

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