Look and Listen

Biography

Kathe Gogolewski, who also writes under the pen name, Ann Durand, was born and raised in northern California near San Francisco in a very leafy neighborhood. She spent much of her childhood hiking the wild hills of Orinda with her three brothers and a sister, catching polliwogs and poison oak. As an adult, she raised a daughter while teaching grade school and teacher education courses at Hayward State in CA. She retired several years ago and moved south into warmer weather near San Diego, California, where there are fewer polliwogs and less poison oak, but lots of coyotes and rabbits. She began writing and painting full time, and now enjoys writing stories for both children and adults. She has painted murals all over San Diego, including Children’s Hospital. She teaches science and writing to fourth and fifth graders as a volunteer at the elementary school near their home. Kathe wrote an educational supplement for teachers to go with her book, TATO, a fantasy adventure for middle grade readers. She works in classrooms all over California engaging 4th and 5th graders in science experiments that explain the illusions and magic in her book. Teachers interested in a visit from the author may visit her website for more information at http://www.tri-studio.com. She has two other novels from Double Dragon Publishing (http://www.double-dragon-ebooks.com) written under her pen name, Ann Durand: A Promise to Keep, a suspense with romantic elements, and Flight of the Gryphon, a paranormal romance. She publishes short stories with the Amazon Short program. She has contributed to two anthologies: The Muse on Writing edited by Lea Schizas, available from Double Dragon Publishing, and Spiritual Visitations, edited by Heather Froeschl, due in 2008 from Zumaya Publications. She writes for Ranch and Coast, San Diego's Lifestyle Magazine, The Muse Marquee, an ezine for writers, and is the editor of The Fiction Flyer, an ezine for writers of fiction available from TRI Studio Books, LLC. She has won awards for her novels, short stories and poems. Her website is http://www.tri-studio.com.

Inspiration

Kathe Gogolewski talks about her writing: The successful communication of a good story inspires me to write. Since the time our ancestors first danced around a campfire reenacting the hunt, humans have used storytelling as a way to unwind and celebrate their successes, and to report their tragedies and failures. I imagine my motivation is not much different from those early storytellers, such as the ones who lived in the caves at Chauvet Pont D’Arc in France over 30,000 years ago. A host of images about them come to mind: I picture this guy...let's call him Gorg the Storyteller...as he leaps to high ground near the fire, hoping to divert the attention of exhuasted hunters who are staring zombie-like into it. Anxious to recreate the vitality of the hunt and reward their efforts for felling a wooly mastodon that day, Gorg gyrates and hops, forming his fingers into horns at his head as he retells the most dramatic events of the day. Nothing about his act could have been random. The average interest level and attention span of a cave dweller 30,000 years ago, I imagine, was similar to that of the couch potato today. Instead of a fire, the modern cave dweller gazes at a TV screen after a hard day at the office. If Gorg had wanted to compete with the blissful state induced from Fire Watching, he had to work hard, move fast. His goal, to give his comrades and hunters a reason to laugh and remember--and the strength to return to the dangers of another hunt--inspires me to write. I want to be like Gorg, motivating others to action. And when a group of exhausted readers pick up one of my books after a long day, I hope that I can hop and growl with as much enthusiasm as Gorg once did.