Editor’s Note: This exchange is part of a series of brief interviews with emerging writers of recent or forthcoming books. If you enjoyed it, please visit other interviews in the I’ve Got Questions feature.
- What’s the title of your book? Fiction? Nonfiction? Poetry? Who is the publisher and what’s the publication date?
Burner and Other Stories; Cornerstone Press UWSP; November 11, 2025
- In a couple of sentences, what’s the book about?
The stories touch on issues of self-discovery, self-acceptance, power dynamics, and how technology changes communication for better or worse.
- What’s the book’s genre (for fiction and nonfiction) or primary style (for poetry)?
Fiction, short stories
- What’s the nicest thing anyone has said about the book so far?
Louise Marburg called it a debut full of grace, forgiveness, and startling beauty
- What book or books is yours comparable to or a cross between? [Is your book like Moby Dick or maybe it’s more like Frankenstein meets Peter Pan?]
I’d rather tell you the story writers I admire, though this is only a handful of a very large number: Mary Gaitskill; William Trevor; Tessa Hadley; Richard Bausch; Elizabeth Strout; and of course, the brilliant story writers who generously offered blurbs for Burner.
- Why this book? Why now?
I drafted the majority of it during the pandemic. There was something about being locked in with only our tools of technology left for human contact that inspired me to consider what technology offers us, and if what it offers is real enough to be satisfactory.
- Other than writing this book, what’s the best job you’ve ever had?
For six years I chaired the Writers-in-Residence program for Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities. I met so many writers, many of whom became my good friends, and I thoroughly enjoyed working with my community to ensure people have access to that unique, inspired and beautiful space to create.
- What do you want readers to take away from the book?
I hope they come away a little easier on themselves, more accepting of failings and mistakes.
- What book(s) are you reading currently?
I’m reading A Complete Fiction by R.L. Maizes, and I recently read Flesh by David Szalay and Culpability by Bruce Holsinger
Learn more about Katrina on her website.
Buy the book from the publisher (Cornerstone Press), Bookshop.org, or Amazon.
