Kathleen Witkowska Tarr is the author of We Are All Poets Here, part-memoir, part-biography, involving the famous spiritual writer and thinker, Trappist monk Thomas Merton. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, she earned an MFA in Creative Nonfiction at the University of Pittsburgh and has taught creative writing. Kathleen has been named a William Shannon Fellow of the International Thomas Merton Society, a Mullin Scholar at the University of Southern California’s Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies, and a fellow at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Her writing on Alaska life, Eastern European and Russian history, arts & culture, the natural world, food, travel, and spirituality has appeared in a wide range of publications. Kathleen has lived in various Alaska communities, from Yakutat to Anchorage, since 1978. She has made numerous trips to Russia and lived for a time in Poland, and she has served on the board of the Alaska Humanities Forum. kathleenwtarr.com
Joan Nockels Wilson is a writer and a Senior Assistant Attorney General for the State of Alaska. For more than half of her 25-year legal career, Joan has served the State of Alaska in both the civil and criminal arenas. As a criminal prosecutor, she achieved the longest sentence for animal cruelty in Alaska and convicted the “hoverboard dentist” of Medicaid fraud and recklessly endangering patients as part of a mass sedation scheme. A native of Chicago, Joan has studied at Northwestern University, University of California Berkeley, Lewis and Clark College, and the University of Alaska. In addition to her law degree, she holds a Master’s of Fine Arts in creative nonfiction and is a Rasmuson Foundation Individual Artist award winner. Her work has appeared in literary journals and audio shows. Joan lives with her husband, daughter, and their vizsla, Vivian, in Bear Valley. The Book of Timothy is her first book.