Katharine English grew up in the Midwest, where she developed a lifelong fascination with the hidden lives of ordinary people. Whether writing about the quiet corners of rural Kansas or the shifting silhouettes of New York City, she is drawn to stories about unconventional beauty and finding symmetry in the unexpected. A former tech consultant turned storyteller, she holds an MLA in Creative Writing and Literature from Harvard University. She lives in New York and Pennsylvania with her husband, and an ever-sprawling collection of books. Inside Henry Cato is her debut novel.

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Tell us the story of your book’s title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?

Because the protagonist’s story is so deeply interior, I knew that the title had to hint at that somehow. Henry is letting the reader “come inside,” so that’s what sparked the first half of the title. As for Henry’s name, for the longest time, I didn’t know where it had come from. One day, I happened to be scanning my bookshelf, and my eyes landed on the spine of an Iris Murdoch novel published in 1976, Henry and Cato. And I thought, “Well, whaddya know?” An unconscious prompt, perhaps? I’ll never know for sure, but it’s as good an inspiration as any.

How did it feel when you first saw your book cover? Or when you first held your book in your hands?

I loved getting and holding that first galley proof. It was the first time I felt like things were getting real. I’d lived with the cover image for several months before it arrived, but there is something about the tactile, tangible proof of paper that breathed a different sort of life into it. When I received the hardcover proof, it felt even more substantial. I still love holding and reading hardcover books. There’s a durable vibe that they carry. Like a vinyl record. If you take care of it, it will last forever.

Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?

I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t telling stories. When I was five years old, my mother remarried and moved us to a little town in Northeast Kansas. I had to leave the comfort of my grandmother’s farmhouse in North Carolina, her peach orchards, her green beans, and her chickens, and the stories we would make up together at the bottom of her garden. I was about to be a town kid, and I needed a story to make sense of it all. I didn’t know anyone, and for weeks, I didn’t have any friends. So, I retreated into myself and told stories to the inanimate friends I did have: my threadbare teddy, my circus maestro and his animals, the wooden tinker toys I would fashion into gods and monsters. I made a playhouse out of the closet in the guest bathroom and would spend hours there, alone but not alone. That was the start of committed storytelling. From there, I would go on to write plays for neighborhood puppet shows, songs, and, later, short stories. My mother had a vast library in the house, and I remember the first books I read were Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz series. (I think I liked that the backdrop was Kansas.) I read all of the Nancy Drew mysteries, and my later influences were William Faulkner (I first read The Sound and the Fury when I was twelve), Thomas Wolf, Salinger, Fitzgerald, and even Shakespeare.

What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?

I left a career in big tech in the spring of 2026 to pursue writing full time. Before tech, I worked for over a decade in corporate media. And before climbing onto the corporate hamster wheel, I was a contributing writer and editor at a regional newspaper. My first job in New York City was working for a small art magazine. I have also been a lounge singer, a puppeteer, a screenwriter, a dancer, an ESL teacher, a product manager, a mother, and an entrepreneur.

What was the most rewarding/meaningful part of publishing your book?

I’d have to say launch day. Nothing felt fully realized until I was past the pre-order stage and I knew that readers could buy the book and have it in their hands in a matter of days. I hosted a launch event that evening, and it was immensely gratifying to be surrounded by so many friends and family members who’d supported me throughout this whole process. It was the first time I’d done a reading outside of a workshop environment; holding the printed book and speaking aloud the words I’d written to a live audience made everything come full circle.

If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?

Well, my book actually does have a soundtrack, and I’ve made a Spotify playlist for it:

What is one thing you hope readers take away from reading your book? How do you envision your perfect reader?

The world wants to neatly label and categorize everyone and everything in it. It’s how many of us try to make sense of our surroundings, especially when they feel confusing. But oftentimes, there aren’t clear labels or categories for things or for people. I like to think we’re more evolved and empathetic human beings when we find ways to live with ambiguity and embrace it. As for a “perfect reader,” I’m not sure such a thing exists. Anyone who picks up Henry and finds resonance and meaning in it, or who can say, “Hey, I get that guy!” is good enough for me

What creative projects are you currently working on?

I publish weekly essays and occasionally short fiction on my Substack, Nobody Famous:

https://writerkatharine.substack.com

I’m also working on a second novel, a psychological thriller that takes place in New York, with the city’s fickle and enigmatic art world as its backdrop.

How was working with Atmosphere Press? What would you tell other writers who want to publish?

Working with Atmosphere has been a great experience. And it’s an especially good option for first-time authors—while going it alone via self-publishing is always a choice, there is so much to learn and navigate. Having a team of professionals to help guide you is invaluable. There is a lot of heavy lifting involved in getting your book out into the world (and you thought writing it was the hard part). Having someone along to help carry the load is a wondrous thing.

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