Kathy Lynne Marshall

"Write our stories! Write our stories NOW!" The ancestors prodded Kathy Lynne Marshall awake one morning during her sixtieth year of life. She realized that if she didn't write books about her family, nobody would. Her life changed dramatically as she began spending hours every day researching her tangled Euro-African lineage. She worked hours each day from her research room in California, or traveled to the places where her ancestors lived hundreds of years ago.

Kathy isn't just a genealogist; she's a historical detective, giving voice to the forgotten. Through meticulous research and a touch of creative empathy, she unearths the stories of women, African Americans, and other unsung heroes who shaped America. Imagine experiencing history through the eyes of those who lived it–that's the power of Kathy's "speculative nonfiction," writing from the point of view of her ancestors using as many facts as possible. But she doesn't stop there. Kathy empowers others to reclaim their heritage, leading workshops and sharing her successful research and self-publishing secrets so anyone can become the author of their family story.

She has been featured in Sacramento Magazine, The Sacramento Bee, The Sacramento Observer, Sacramento News & Review, and Elk Grove Citizen. Kathy has been interviewed on CBS-TV, Fox40-TV for the annual Genealogy Seminar in Sacramento, as well as several podcasts. She has delighted audiences at local and national genealogy and writing conferences, including as keynote speaker in 2024. She has also served as a consultant to West Virginia’s Beverly Heritage Center.

Multiple Book Awards grace Kathy’s bookshelves. "Finding Otho: The Search for Our Enslaved Williams Ancestors," describes the whirlwind journey that was her first success at finding information about her enslaved Williams ancestors from Maryland. It won an award from the Northern California Publishers and Authors (NCPA) and Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS). "The Ancestors Are Smiling!" is part of the "Finding Otho" saga.

Kathy became intrigued about why her dynamo Grandmother Daisy lied about her birthplace, finding the truth in the bowels of the ancient courthouse in Mississippi and touring the Alabama plantation where her three-times great-grandparents toiled in the 1800s. "Finding Daisy from the Deep South to the Promised Land" won the Phillis Wheatly Book Award from the Sons and Daughters of the US Middle Passage (SDUSMP), and Non-Fiction Genealogy award from AAHGS.

Her fourth book, "The Mystery of Margaret Booker," took her to Beverly, Randolph County, West Virginia, where she uncovered secrets about her three-times great-grandmother Margaret Booker who was able to drive her five children to freedom in Ohio during the Civil War. That book earned a "Non-Fiction Biography" award from AAHGS.

Next was a deep dive into Georgia when studying her paternal Marshall line. "The Marshall Legacy in Black and White," earned a "Non-Fiction Genealogy" award from AAHGS. A follow-on book, "Finding Marshalls: A Genealogy Trip with a Black and White Twist" chronicled Kathy's incredible genealogy trip to Georgia, traveling with a white cousin who descended from the Marshall enslavers. They talked about the taboo topics that blacks and whites aren't supposed to breach, while meeting cousins who descend from the Marshall enslavers and their enslaved. That book hit the kudos jackpot by being a finalist in the "Next Generation Indie Book Awards" as well as receiving an award in the "Non-Fiction Reference" category from AAHGS.

Kathy is a member of the California Writers Club, Elk Grove Writers Guild, Black Women Write, AAHGS, and SDUSMP organizations.

As the multi-award winning artist known as Kanika for thirty years, her welded steel and ceramic sculptures have been shown on American Spark-TV, at the California State Capitol, and the California State Fair Fine Arts Show. Her sculptures have been sold at the Crocker Art Museum, several galleries in Northern California, and at her garden sculpture studio.

In 2024, Kanika wrote a book of fictional short stories called, "Dreamscapes: Where Fantasy, Suspense and Joy Intersect." It was a freeing experience to write pure fiction.

THE ANCESTORS ARE SMILING!