Katherine Howe (born 1977) is an American novelist who lives in New England and New York City. She specializes in historical novels which she uses to query ideas about "the contingent nature of reality and belief." Her

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

was the New York Times Bestseller ''

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane ''The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane'' (2009) is the first novel of American author Katherine Howe. It was published by VOICE, an imprint of Hyperion (publisher). It debuted at number two on the ''New York Times'' Hardcover Fiction Bestseller ...

'' (2009), related to the

Salem witch trials The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Thirty people were found guilty, 19 of whom w ...

. Its success led to her being a guest on several TV news shows, as well as "Salem: Unmasking The Devil" on the

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television television network, network and flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel owned by the National Geograp ...

. She has also written '' The House of Velvet and Glass,'' ''Conversion,'' and '' The Appearance of Annie Van Sinderen'' (2015). Her fiction has been translated into more than 20 languages.

Biography

Howe was born and raised in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. Her mother is a longtime curator at the

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. With the recent completion of an eight-year campus redevelopment project, including the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Build ...

. She graduated from the

Kinkaid School , motto_translation = Light through Knowledge , established = , type = Independent elementary school and secondary school , gender = Co-educational , us_nces_school_id = , head = Jonathan Eades , head_name = Head of School , ad ...

and earned her undergraduate degree in art history and philosophy at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. She began writing fiction while doing graduate work; she earned an MA in American and New England Studies at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

."Katherine Howe"
, 2016 Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, accessed 28 April 2016 She teaches at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

. In 2016 she was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, where she was finishing a novel set "among the corsairs of the Gulf Coast that imagines Texas’s role within the broader Caribbean diaspora. It is tentatively titled The Galvez Grand. It will build on archival research about patterns of trade and settlement on

Galveston Island Galveston Island ( ) is a barrier island on the Texas Gulf Coast in the United States, about southeast of Houston. The entire island, with the exception of Jamaica Beach, is within the city limits of the City of Galveston in Galveston County. T ...

in the 1820s while engaging with the legacy of magical realist fiction in the American Southwest and in Mexico." Howe and her husband, the economic historian

Louis Hyman Louis Roland Hyman (born 1977) is an American writer and economic historian. He is the Maurice and Hinda Neufeld Founders Professor in Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University's School of Industrial & Labor Relations. Education Afte ...

(author of '' Debtor Nation''), are core members of a group informally known as the "Springfield Street Table." This batch of Cambridge-area writers and scholars gather to play poker, while trading barbs and debating culture and ideas. The bestselling novelist

Matthew Pearl Matthew Pearl (born October 2, 1975) is an American novelist and educator. His novels include ''The Dante Club'', '' The Poe Shadow'', '' The Last Dickens'', '' The Technologists'', and '' The Last Bookaneer''. Biography Pearl was born in New Yor ...

, who also started writing fiction as a graduate student in English studies, is a core member of this group. He is sometimes credited with helping to launch Howe's literary career. Howe's ancestors settled in

Essex County, Massachusetts Essex County is a County (United States), county in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the total population was 809,829, making it the third-most populous county in the stat ...

in the 1620s. She is related to both

Elizabeth Proctor Elizabeth Proctor (née Bassett; 1650 – after 1703) was convicted of witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. She was the wife of John Proctor, who was convicted and executed. Her execution sentence was postponed because she was pregna ...

and

Elizabeth Howe Elizabeth Howe (née Jackson; c. 1637–July 19, 1692) was one of the accused in the Salem witch trials. She was found guilty and executed on July 19, 1692. Background Elizabeth Jackson Howe was born 14 May 1637 near Rowley, Yorkshire, the ...

, women convicted of being witches during the

. Proctor was spared because she was pregnant at the time of her scheduled execution, and later among prisoners released. Howe was executed.Elizabeth Howe
, ''Physick'' book website

Bibliography

Fiction

Non Fiction

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howe, Katherine 21st-century American novelists Living people Writers from Houston The Kinkaid School alumni 1977 births Columbia College (New York) alumni People from Marblehead, Massachusetts Boston University College of Arts and Sciences alumni American women novelists 21st-century American women writers Novelists from Massachusetts Novelists from Texas