Biography

Katherine Towler is author of the novels Snow Island and Evening Ferry. Part of a planned trilogy, the novels are set on a fictional New England island and chronicle the lives of two generations in two island families and the impact of the wars of the twentieth century on the island community. Praised by the Boston Globe as "luminous and moving," Snow Island was chosen as a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers title, a Borders Original Voices title, and a Booksense selection. Evening Ferry, also a Booksense selection, was described as "gracefully written" by Publishers Weekly and as "a strong and deeply satisfying tale" by the author John Barth. Katherine has received fellowships from Yaddo, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, and the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. She was awarded the George Bennett Fellowship at Phillips Exeter Academy and served as the school's writer-in-residence. She has published poetry, short stories, and a series of interviews with prominent writers and poets in The Sun Magazine, The Worcester Review, The Tusculum Review, Mars Hill Review, and In Posse Review.

Katherine grew up in New York City at General Theological Seminary, where her father was on the faculty. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan and earned an M.A. in writing at Johns Hopkins and an M.A. in English literature at the Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College. She has taught creative writing to students of all ages, including working with public school students through the artists-in-the-schools program in New Hampshire. Currently she teaches graduate students in the low residency MFA program in writing at Southern New Hampshire University and works as a freelance writer specializing in publications and promotional materials for schools and non-profits. She lives in Portsmouth, New Hampshire with her husband.

F.A.Q.

Here are some answers to questions I am frequently asked when I'm on book tour or meeting with book groups. If you have questions that aren't answered here, feel free to e-mail me directly.

When did you know that you wanted to be a writer?
I started reading in earnest when I was eight. My sister used to complain that I wouldn't go outside and play with her because I would rather stay on the couch reading. My desire to be a writer came out of my passion for books. If only, I thought, I could transport someone to another world the way the writers I loved had transported me. I began writing poems when I was ten and declared at the age of fourteen that I would be a poet when I grew up. I still write poems from time to time, but I turned out to be more of a prose writer than a poet.

How does a book start for you? Do you know the plot or the ending when you begin writing?
The novels I have written began with a place that fascinated me (the island) and a collection of characters. Snow Island actually began as a short story. I had a small moment in the life of one character — Alice. I soon realized that I wanted to tell a bigger story over a longer period of time. I wanted to tell Alice's story in the context of the story of the island and World War II. I wrote this book and Evening Ferry with no clear plan for the entire plot or ending. The stories and characters changed a great deal through the writing. The books took me places I didn't think I would go. This is part of what I enjoy about the writing process. It's fluid and unpredictable. To do good work as a writer, you have to be disciplined in sitting at the desk, but once you get there, you have to free your mind and imagination to let anything happen. The story and characters do take on their own lives. This is a wonderful feeling.

Where do your characters come from? Are they based on real people?
There are of course pieces of myself and people I have known throughout my life in all my characters, but the characters themselves are largely invented. George Tibbits in Snow Island, for instance, is not based on anyone I have known. He and the other characters in both books came out of the island that inspired me to write the Snow Island trilogy — the powerful atmosphere of the real place and what I observed of the islanders who live there. There was no one like George on the real island, but the rhythms and rituals of island life suggested such a character. My books are not autobiographical, though they draw on my experiences and preoccupations. By the time I have finished writing the books, however, I feel that I have lived these stories as clearly as my own life, and that I know these characters the way I know my family and friends.


What advice would you give someone who wants to write?
First, I tell young writers in particular to read. Read everything you can — novels, short stories, poetry, non-fiction. Read writers from other centuries, not just contemporary writers. Second, I suggest making a regular time for writing, even if it's only a half hour or hour a day. Make a pact with yourself that you will carve out the time to sit in silence, to think, to see what turns up on the page. Waiting for inspiration to strike will not take you far. You need to make writing a regular practice in your life. Beyond this, being a writer requires a thick skin (rejection is a fact of this life), and persistence. A writers' group or writing class is important. You need feedback from good readers because there are always inconsistencies or holes in your work that you can't see yourself. Be willing to revise. It's easy to fall in love with your own words, but most successful writers revise extensively.

Are there writers who have influenced you?
I suppose I have been influenced one way or another by much of what I have read. The writers I most love and from whom I feel I have learned the most are Willa Cather, Edith Wharton, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Truman Capote, Henry James, J. D. Salinger, George Eliot, Knut Hamsun, Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf... this list could go on. It may look like a rather disparate group, but I think these writers are united by their clear, precise language and attention to the nuances of human relationships and behavior. Among contemporary writers, I have great admiration for Alistair MacLeod and Alice Munro (both Canadians) and Edna O'Brien.