Kathleen J. Renk

Kathleen Williams Renk is a writer and scholar who has published creative nonfiction, short stories, and scholarly books and articles. She has published a children’s book, _Orphan Annie’s Sister_, based on her mother’s life as an orphan during the depression. Cuidono Press published _Vindicated_ in November 2020. Her second historical fiction novel, _The Rossetti Diaries_ about Christina Rossetti and Lizzie Siddal, was published in 2023. Her third novel, _ No Coward's Soul Have I_, about the Irish heroine Anne Devlin and poet Percy Shelley was recently published in Nov. 2024 by Bedazzled Ink Publishing. She’s currently working on a novel about the writer Kate Chopin. Renk studied fiction writing at the University of Iowa.

Renk’s debut novel, _Vindicated: A Novel of Mary Shelley_, won Story Circle’s 2021 May Sarton Prize in Historical Fiction. It was long-listed for the Chautauqua Prize and was also a semi-finalist for the Goethe Prize in Historical Fiction.