Kathy Watson was a public relations executive and journalist, including six years as editor-in-chief of Oregon Business magazine, before she embarked on a radically new second act as a chef and restaurant owner. Her debut novel, Orphans of the Living (She Writes Press, 2025), is a Literary Titan Book Award Gold Medalist in Fiction. She lives in Hood River, Oregon, where she writes, cooks, and runs and hikes the Columbia River Gorge with her husband, Stu, and Satchel, the world's best dog.