Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, M.Ed., is a Gen X poet of Lebanese and Sicilian descent and a former adult educator serving traditional and incarcerated students. A first-generation college graduate with disabilities, she is the author of 12 other books, including a Silver Award winner from Nonfiction Authors Association, an Amazon bestseller and a Library of Virginia 2024 Literary Awards nominated collection. Since the early 1990s, Katherine's work has appeared in Yankee magazine, Frogpond, Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, Miracle Monocle's anthology You Blew It, Southern Quill, BigCityLit, Haiku Canada, Panoply, Portrait of New England, ONE ART, Poem Alone and dozens of others. She has won poetry awards from Poetry Society of Virginia, Virginia Writers Club, Loudoun County Library Foundation, Prince William County Poet Laureate Circle, Prince William County Arts Council and various publications. Her poem "Now Entering Manassas" was included in a time capsule as part of the City of Manassas, Virginia's 150th anniversary celebration. Katherine lives in central Virginia with her husband and their rescue pets. When she is not writing, she enjoys spending time with her grown children, exploring nature and discovering new places in her community. Learn more about her at KatherineGotthardt.com.
