Kathe Koja

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born

January 01, 1960

gender

female

website

http://www.kathekoja.com/

About this author

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I've been writing since I was very young, just about as soon as I could read. It's more than what I do for a living: writing is who I am, the way I see the world, the way I try to make sense of what I see.

But it wasn't until I attended the Clarion Workshop that I got serious about my writing. At Clarion I met writers, real live writers whose books I had actually read, who read my stories, offered helpful critiques, and most of all, took me seriously as a fellow writer. That changed my life. A few years later, I sold my first novel. Four more novels and a short fiction collection for adults were published in the '90s.

Writing straydog, my first book for young people, ushered me into a world I knew already as a reader. Many of the characters I...more I've been writing since I was very young, just about as soon as I could read. It's more than what I do for a living: writing is who I am, the way I see the world, the way I try to make sense of what I see.

But it wasn't until I attended the Clarion Workshop that I got serious about my writing. At Clarion I met writers, real live writers whose books I had actually read, who read my stories, offered helpful critiques, and most of all, took me seriously as a fellow writer. That changed my life. A few years later, I sold my first novel. Four more novels and a short fiction collection for adults were published in the '90s.

Writing straydog, my first book for young people, ushered me into a world I knew already as a reader. Many of the characters I love best in fiction -- Louise Fitzhugh's Harriet, J.D. Salinger's Holden and Franny and Zooey, Francesca Lia Block's Witch Baby -- are people who say what they think, show their bewilderments, struggle with hard ideas, love with all their hearts; exasperating, funny, intense people. Young people.

I'm a strong supporter of animal rights, so I'm especially proud that straydog was honored by both the ASPCA and the Humane Society. I believe that you can learn everything you need to know about a person by watching the way s/he acts with animals and little kids, the powerless ones. Which is what Buddha Boy is primarily about: power. Who has it, who abuses it, and what it's really for.

Writing fiction is a discipline not only of words, but of vision: I have to see a thing clearly in my mind's eye -- a character, a situation -- before I can begin to write about it. The Blue Mirror is about vision, and what can happen when we finally open our eyes.

Talk looks at freedom: the freedom to think and act and choose for yourself, to live the reality of who you are inside -- and about freedom's greatest enemy, fear.

Going Under explores the boundaries of trust and of loyalty: how far into the darkness can you -- should you -- go, even for someone you love?

Kissing The Bee examines the power of growth and inevitable change, how to reach for what you want without betraying who you are. And the novel that follows -- Headlong, coming in fall '08 -- looks at social class and aspirations, and what "having it all" it might mean for two very different girls

I'm a proud native Detroiter, growing up in an east side suburb. I still live near the city with my husband, artist Rick Lieder, and our three cats.(less)

combine editions
Books by Kathe Koja

Average rating: 3.75 · 7,659 ratings · 764 reviews · 58 distinct works

	Buddha Boy 3.59 avg rating — 371 ratings — published 2003 — 11 editions	My rating:
	The Blue Mirror 3.77 avg rating — 296 ratings — 4 editions	My rating:
	Kissing the Bee 3.70 avg rating — 257 ratings — published 2007 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Skin 3.98 avg rating — 240 ratings — published 1993 — 4 editions	My rating:
	The Cipher 3.79 avg rating — 189 ratings — published 1991	My rating:
	Under the Poppy 3.31 avg rating — 172 ratings — published 2010 — 4 editions	My rating:
	Straydog 3.69 avg rating — 124 ratings — published 2002 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Strange Angels 3.78 avg rating — 106 ratings — published 1994 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Talk 3.48 avg rating — 120 ratings — published 2005 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Bad Brains 3.82 avg rating — 100 ratings — published 1992 — 5 editions	My rating:

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Quotes by Kathe Koja

“To work and work and never mind why; if you kept looking for the why behind everything you might never work again, you might never bother to breathe again.”
― Kathe Koja, Skin

9 people liked it

“Recalling those gone times, old memories lit by the fire of the new, I did not this time wonder how long it would last; I was too smart for that now. Take what you get, and don't think. Of course it could never be that easy, but there were moments, like now, that I could successfully pretend that it was, and I had no inclination to try to peer past those moments. I'm not one who wants to know the future: at the best it spoils the present, with longing or dismay, and at the worst, well. Who really wants to find out how tight the sling is, for your own very personal ass, who wants to know how deep the shit will really be. Not you. Not me either. Because it's rarely bliss saved up, is it, when you finally get there. I'll take my now, waking with a lover's scent on me, around me, take my hopes before they're maybe tragedy; a good morning is a good morning, even if it leads to apocalypse at night.”
― Kathe Koja

7 people liked it

“I'm just going to jump and say:hey Mom, Dad, I'm gay, What's for dessert?”
― Kathe Koja

7 people liked it

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Kathe Koja

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Kathe's Fans (60)

Kathe Koja

Author profile

combine editionsBooks by Kathe Koja

Upcoming Events

Quotes by Kathe Koja

Topics Mentioning This Author

Add New
Videos

combine editions
Books by Kathe Koja