Kathryn Jean Hagen
Children’s Book Writer

Kathryn writes nonfiction and fiction children’s books. She is also a speech/language pathologist and special education administrator who has focused on young children’s language, pre-literacy, and literacy development for her entire adult life. Through this work she has internalized the voices of young children and has immersed herself in children’s picture books and chapter books. Kathryn carries this rich background and expertise into her writing.

After receiving her bachelor’s degree in Communication Disorders and master’s degree in Speech and Language Pathology from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, Kathryn earned an educational specialist degree from St. Thomas University, St. Paul, Minnesota.

At this time Kathryn and her husband live part-time in Kennett Square, PA, and part-time in Minneapolis, MN. She embraces and learns from the rich writing communities in both states! Kathryn is involved in the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (including both EPA SCBWI and IA/MN SCBWI), the Highlights Foundation, The Loft Literary Center, critique groups, and great events at indie children’s book stores.

Kathryn is represented by Eve Adler of Red Fox Literary.

Honors

NEWS! Kathryn’s picture book manuscript, DRAGONFLY DANCE, was selected as an Honorable Mention for the 2022 Ann Whitford Paul Writer’s Digest Manuscript Award in the Nonfiction category!

Previous honors: Kathryn received an @PBParty 2022 Honorable Mention for her picture book biography manuscript, BORN TO DANCE, after being chosen last year as an @PBParty 2021 finalist for a nature-based manuscript (both from approximately 1000 entries). Earlier she was chosen from nearly 500 applicants to be a 2019 @PBChat mentee with the exceptional Nancy Churnin.

Q & A with Kathryn

Why do you write children’s books?
Children’s books combine all the parts of writing I hold dear. I love and have always loved stories—listening, telling, reading, and writing stories. I love language and discovering the perfect word or phrase to make a story come alive. I love digging my teeth into research, not only for nonfiction but also to make my fiction authentic. I love wild imagination and quirky humor, both of which have a welcome home in children’s books.

Where were you born and raised?
I was born in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, a small town near the North Dakota border. Surprising fact: no falls in Fergus Falls. From the age of one I lived and grew up in the Minneapolis suburb of Richfield where my father fixed appliances and my mother, who had started her teaching career in a one-room schoolhouse, was a substitute teacher. My “other” home was in rural Minnesota, where my siblings and I spent weeks each year living with my grandparents on their small farm.

What did you love when you were a child?
My first love was reading—under the bed covers, hidden in a closet at family events, in the back yard, anywhere. When I couldn’t find books or magazines, I read cereal boxes and advertisements.

My second love was spending time on the farm, where I worked in the fields with Grandpa and in the vegetable garden with Grandma. I lived for their stories about horses and wagons, wood stoves and oil lamps, foxes and wolves, and snow up to the second story windows.

My third love was my parakeet, Sammy. He was my best friend.

Where do you get your ideas?
Everywhere. A swarm of dragonflies, an overheard conversation, a bully hummingbird, memories and family stories, a lost sock, the blueberry that rolled away, birds and trees, lichen and tree roots, and heroes we don’t know—including children who have a disability and rarely see themselves in books. Ideas arrive from all directions, though they flow best when I walk solo around the lakes, hike in the woods, or drive to northern Minnesota without the radio.

Where do you write?
My office—a sunny second floor spot where I look out at trees and birds and my neighbors’ homes. It’s a cozy spot where my family members greet me from inside their picture frames and Cuban or African rhythms beat softly in the background.

Or at a coffee shop, before–and hopefully after–the pandemic.

What do you do when you are not writing?
Read and discuss books, hike, kayak, teach English to adult immigrants, dance at the YWCA, watch the waves of Lake Superior.

What do you do on vacation?
Explore far-off lands and visit our wonderful twin sons (and a delightful daughter-in-law and granddaughter) who live on the east and west coasts.

Favorite Writing Quotes:

“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.”
― Madeleine L’Engle

“Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.”
― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”
― Anton Chekhov

“To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.”
― Emily Dickinson