Katrina Kenison

Katrina Kenison is an American author of literary memoir and nonfiction about parenting, life stages, mindfulness, and simplicity. Her first book, Mitten Strings for God: Reflections for Mothers in a Hurry, published in 2000, encourages parents of young children to restore balance and stillness to lives often spent on the run. "Inspirational and life-affirming, it offers reminders of what is of lasting value, such as grace, love, tranquility." In 2009, Kenison published The Gift of an Ordinary Day: A Mother's Memoir, an exploration of the challenges and rewards of parenting adolescents. Her memoir Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment, published in January 2013, is a personal account of the losses and lessons of the second half of life. Kenison is also the author, with Rolf Gates, of Meditations from the Mat: Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga. A graduate of Smith College, she lives in New Hampshire with her husband, Steven Lewers, and is the mother of two grown sons. She is a yoga instructor and a Reiki practitioner.

"I've come to see paying attention as a spiritual practice," Kenison says. "I write to remind myself that life's seemingly mundane moments are often where we find beauty, grace, and transformation. When we race through life, we miss it."

A former literary editor at Houghton Mifflin, Kenison published works by Olive Ann Burns, Calvin Trillin, Jane Hamilton, Donald Hall, Thomas Mallon, Bruce Duffy, and others. She became the fourth series editor of the Best American Short Stories in 1990, a post she held through 2006. She co-edited, with John Updike, The Best Short Stories of the Century (1999). Kenison's work has appeared in O, the Oprah Magazine, Real Simple, Woman's Day, Parenting, FamilyFun, Health, and other publications.