About Kathryn
Born in Washington D.C. and raised in a Maryland suburb, I migrated to Utah in 1989 to attend Brigham Young University. My future husband, Reed Soper, showed up in 1990, and we married in 1992. Our first child was born one month after I graduated with a BA (English) in 1993. We’ve made our home in the Salt Lake valley, and our family has grown to include seven children, from teenage to toddler.
Although writing has been an interest of mine since I was a child, I did not pursue personal writing until 2003, when I was trying to digest a series of life-changing experiences. The writing process itself was so transformative that I decided part of my life work would be crafting personal writings and helping others do the same. This decision sparked the establishment of The Segullah Group, a non-profit organization producing literary works that include, inform, and inspire.
My projects within this organization include four anthologies: two which focus on Down syndrome (Gifts and Gifts 2), and two which focus on motherhood from a Mormon perspective (The Mother In Me and the sequel in progress). I’m also editor-in-chief of Segullah, a twice-yearly literary journal by and for Mormon women.
In 2009 I published my first solo work, The Year My Son and I Were Born, a memoir which details the personal transformation I experienced after the birth of my son Thomas, who has Down syndrome. While the story explores in detail the dynamics of mothering a disabled child, it also addresses the challenges of motherhood on a much broader spectrum. Subtopics include my struggle with clinical depression as well as related aspects of my spiritual journey. But more than anything else, it’s a story about coming to terms with being human.
Those same themes–mothering and Mormonism, depression and disability, spirituality and simple humanity–continue to form the basis for my writing. This year, I’m taking a break from producing book-length works and will focus my efforts on creating essays for online and print publications. I’ll also begin some preliminary work for my next anthology, which will be about depression.
As a stay-at-home mom with a sprawling household to manage and multiple projects spinning on the side, I enjoy a crazy, rich, chaotic, beautiful life. I hope you enjoy reading all about it.
