Kathy Watson is a chef and author. But she wasn't always. Before opening her two restaurants and writing her first books, she spent twenty years as a journalist and public relations executive. The Orphans of the Living is her debut novel. In her previous life, she was press secretary to the Oregon State Senate Democrats, and director of communications for two state agencies. She served a brief (but disastrous) stint as press secretary to the mayor of Portland, Bud Clark. She was also as editor-in-chief of Oregon Business magazine for six years. In 1998, she started a media relations firm with her husband and fellow writer, Stu Watson. In 2004, she said goodbye all that and became the chef and owner of Viento in Bingen, Washington, and the acclaimed Nora's Table in Hood River, Oregon. In addition to Orphans of the Living, she has written a memoir, Last Morning at Nora's Table and is at work on a second novel, A Place Far Down the River.Her community activities include serving as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for children. Kathy attended the University of Oregon School of Journalism, but left one term shy of graduation to take her first newspaper job at the Lake County Examiner in Lakeview, OR. She lives in Hood River, OR and runs and hikes the trails in the Columbia River Gorge with her dog, Satchel and husband, Stu.
