Katherine Billings Palmer is an author, poet, essayist, and retired technical writer from Garden City, Michigan. Her latest book, I Didn’t See That Coming: One Grandmother, Two Kids, and a Whole Lotta Laughing, is her first attempt at writing humor. The book captures the unfiltered brilliance of two young grandsons as they explore the world one weird, wonderful, and wildly funny comment at a time.
In 2024, she published My Story: A Memoir in Poetry and Prose, a compelling memoir composed of more than one hundred poems and essays that explore the author’s life, inner conflict, and eventual journey to self-acceptance. The often poignant and frequently humorous collection explores issues that plagued the author in her childhood and teens and how the birth of her son became the catalyst that pushed her to triumph over anxiety, self-sabotage, and negative self-image, and ultimately to a journey of self-discovery.
Following her husband Rick’s death from small cell lung cancer, Katherine published a series of three books about her struggles to cope with grief:
A Widow’s Words, Year One: Grief, Reflection, Prose, and Poetry
A Widow’s Words, Year Two: Grief, Reflection, Prose, Poetry, and Hope
A Widow’s Words, The Later Years: Grief, Reflection, Prose, Poetry, and Peace
She also published a small book of poetry: I Wanted to Grow Old With You.
All books are available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo.
Katherine’s essays and poems have been published in Westland Writes and the Bear River Review. She is a guest blogger for the Hope for Widows Foundation and writes about her grief journey at www.TheWritingWidow.com. She also posts her prose and poetry on Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky, and Substack @thewritingwoman.
Writing Awards:
Katherine won several academic writing awards, including first place in the University of Michigan Critical Essay Contest for her work about poet John Donne: “‘The Sun Rising’: A Lover’s Boast.” She was shortlisted for the Fish Publishing 2013 Short Memoir Prize for her essay, “My Father the Magician.”
Education and Achievements:
Katherine was chosen as the University of Michigan Dearborn English Department’s Honor Scholar for 1995. That same year, she earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree With High Distinction. She was awarded the James B. Angell Scholar Undergraduate Excellence Award in 1995 and 1996.
Profession:
Katherine retired from her career as a technical writer/editor in 2022. She wrote, proofread and edited technical engineering textbooks, workbooks, and eLearning courses for SAE International. Since 2002, she has owned and operated her own web and print design company.
