Katherine Scott Crawford was born and raised in the blue hills of the South Carolina Upcountry. A former journalist, backpacking guide, and recovering academic, she’s an award-winning writer whose work has appeared in magazines, newspapers and literary journals. An avid hiker and admitted travel addict, Katherine has spent short (and long) stints writing, hiking, and exploring in places like Alaska, Costa Rica, Italy, Panama and Scotland. Despite the siren call of her far-too-crisp passport, the American South remains her favorite home base. She lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina with her husband, daughters, and their trail dog, Merlin.
Crawford’s new novel, The Miniaturist’s Assistant, was released by Regal House Publishing in May 2025. Bestselling author Jacquelyn Mitchard praises The Miniaturist’s Assistant as “a lush, bold novel” which “transcends genre and takes the reader places that are entirely new.”
Katherine’s debut historical novel, Keowee Valley, was published by Bell Bridge Books in September 2012. Inspired by the ancient mountains Katherine grew up
playing in as a child, it’s the saga of one woman’s dreams, adventures and passions as she struggles to build a life for herself on the Appalachian frontier in the turbulent years leading to the American Revolution. A Quarter-Finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest, Keowee Valley has been praised by bestselling author Adriana Trigiani as “a glorious debut from a gifted author.”
Katherine Scott Crawford holds a MFA in Writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, a MA in English from The College of Charleston/The Citadel, and a double BA in English and Speech & Communication Studies from Clemson University. She served as judge for the Appalachian Studies Association’s Weatherford Award, serves as fiction and creative nonfiction reader for Appalachian Review, and is a member of AWP, the North Carolina Writers Network, and the Historical Novel Society. She was awarded a North Carolina Arts Award by the NC Arts Council, a Literary Arts Award by the Santa Fe Writers Project (judged by Robert Olen Butler), and fellowships from The Sun Magazine and the Vermont Studio Center, among other honors. She has served as Writer-in-Residence at the Montana Artists Refuge, the Weymouth Center for the Arts, Wildacres Residency Program, and more. She’s been a panelist, presenter, and workshop leader at events like the Southern Women Writers Conference, the Carolina Mountains Literary Festival, Blue Ridge Bookfest, the Dahlonega Literary Festival, and many more, and teaches in the Great Smokies Writing Program at the University of North Carolina-Asheville.
You can learn more about Katherine at www.katherinescottcrawford.com