Middle School
Worksheets
Kathe Koja
American novelist Kathe Koja has been writing since childhood. As an adult writer, she first began writing short stories, some in collaboration with another writer. Koja then started writing horror fiction novels for adults. She made a change after ten years, however, and began writing for young adult readers. Regardless of her audience, Koja has enjoyed a successful writing career.
Kathe Koja is the second of two sisters born in Detroit, Michigan, who grew up in an east-side suburb. She began writing at a very young age. According to Koja, "I've been writing stories since I was small, about four or five years old. Writing has always been a large part-a huge part-of who I am." When Koja looks at the world, she does it through writer's eyes. It's how she makes sense of the world. Koja discovered early on that writing is her passion.
Koja became serious about writing as a profession when she received the Susan C. Petrey Scholarship in 1984 to attend the Clarion Writers' Workshop, which was at the time located at Michigan State University. She was able to meet respected, published writers from the United States and Canada. Receiving critiques of her own works was valuable, and Koja was treated like a fellow writer. The experience changed her life. She realized she had value as a writer and was determined to be a writer no matter what. Koja started selling short works of fiction to magazines, and she was soon approached by an agent. Within a few years, Koja sold her first novel. Many more were soon to follow.
