• home
  • about
    • watch my videos
    • press
  • books
    • get signed copies
    • get signed bookplates
  • events
  • contact
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Twitter

Katrina Kenison

celebrating the gift of each ordinary day

  • Soul Work
  • Parenting
  • Writing & Reading
  • Hearth & Home

Home » press

press

news & reviews

in print and from around the web

 As an avid NPR fan, I was pretty excited to receive an invitation to The Bookshelf, my favorite literary show in my home state of New Hampshire — even though I also had to complete a homework assignment for host Peter Biello: write about my five favorite books and why they matter to me. Read and/or listen here.

The first time I went to Nashville to read at Ann Patchett’s bookstore Parnassus, my whole book group came along with me — only to have an ice-storm shut down the city moments before I was to begin. (Fortunately, we were able to reschedule.) The blog entry Ann wrote about Magical Journey and the storm-that-wasn’t made up for any disappointment. Read Ann’s story here.

This review made me bristle — for about 30 seconds — and then it made me laugh out loud.  And then it made me want to give HeadButler Jesse Kornbluth a hug and take him out to dinner.  (My only published review by a guy, and one of my favorites, ever.)

Priscilla Gilman’s questions pushed me to go deep and reach far. Her provocative interview is here.

I’m always inspired by the personal stories of service and transformation on Maria Shriver’s Architects of Change website. It was an honor to be asked to contribute; my essay about change is here.

Ali Edwards needs no introduction, her fans are legion. I love knowing our readers overlap. Here’s what she had to say about Magical Journey on her blog.

Power of Moms is an online gathering place for “deliberate mothers.” Tune in to my podcast with founder April Perry here.

Rebuild Your Life Now is an inspiring website for anyone in a time of transition. Loved doing this interview.

My friend and writing buddy Margaret Roach and I did a GoodReads chat together and covered a range of topics with readers and friends. It’s archived here.

Magical Journey was an Editor’s Choice pick at the Chicago Tribune and was featured in People, too, as a “memoir we can’t put down.”

Awesomely Awake is a site devoted to “inspiring you to be the parent you want to be.” My interview with Shawn Leddington Fink is about keeping it simple, with parenting tips for busy moms.

VIV Magazine  ran a Magical Journey excerpt and a terrific interview, too.

The Kitchen Witch always makes me laugh, and she usually inspires me to cook something new, too. What author wouldn’t be thrilled with a review that begins: “You Need This Book. You Do.”

I never miss Lindsey Mead’s blog, A Design So Vast. Her review of Magical Journey captures the essence of what I aspired to do.

The best reviews are the ones that tell a story of their own. I love what Pamela Hunt  wrote here about her own mothering journey and how our paths crossed.

Jena Strong says this piece is not a review. No matter. I can’t imagine a lovelier response to Magical Journey.

Bruce Dolin is a kindred spirit, a seeking dad, and a wonderful on-line friend. He paused mid-way through reading to share his thoughts.

Life coach Stacy Curnow helps women identify their sense of purpose. Practical, warm, and wise she is. And a lovely writer, too. Her review at Midwife for your Life is here.

Was delighted to have an excerpt from Magical Journey on the Huffington Post. Click here to read it.

More on the web. . .

*** On “Redefining Success and Celebrating the Ordinary,” New York Times, June 29, 2012

*** Chapters of a Life: Author Katrina Kenison’s memoirs have attracted a growing legion of fans with their simple message: “Enjoy the little moments of life before they’re gone.” Smith Alumnae Quarterly, Summer 2010.(Turn to page 38.)

*** Lovely to have The Gift of an Ordinaray Day featured on Maria Shriver’s Architects of Change site. Click here to read my story.

*** And here is a thoughtful interview in Psychology Today, with a fellow mom and memoirist.

Katrina Kenison
I’m a wife, the mother of two sons, a passionate reader, a former editor, a slow writer, a friend, a seeker. Somewhere along the way, I realized that a good life is made up not of peak moments but of many small ones – imperfect, fleeting, ordinary, precious. And so I slowed down and began to pay attention. Writing, it turns out, is a way of noticing.

Let’s stay in touch. Receive new reflections & inspiration

Recent Posts

  • you can’t have it all
  • act of imagination
  • “choose an unimportant day”
    (and enter to win a book!)
  • what a year brings
  • we remember moments
  • four thousand weeks, and 365 seconds

Topics

archive

videos

For all my videos, click here.

Last year on my 67th birthday, just a week after f Last year on my 67th birthday, just a week after finishing breast cancer treatment, I told my kids I wanted to take a trip with each one of them before I turn 70.  My friend Randy reminds me that we must think now in terms of QTR — quality time remaining — and so I do.  Ten days in Italy with @hlewers89 have reminded me just how vast and precious the world is, how travel can bring us home to ourselves, and how important it is to step out of our daily routines and into challenges and adventures while we’re strong and healthy enough to enjoy them, and also just how fun it is to spend time with my 36-year-old son. When we arrived in Milan we discovered our luggage had been  lost in a massive breakdown at Heathrow that could take days to untangle.  And so we spent our first day buying new everything— from underwear to dental floss to walking shoes. By dinner time we had our Italian  capsule wardrobes and tiny duffel bags to pack them in.  There was something kind of liberating about starting from scratch and assembling what we needed for a week of walking in the Lakes district. And I come home not only with new clothes but with some new intentions, too: take the trip, travel light, climb the mountain, drink the good wine, make new friends (what joy!), eat the gelato (and the cheese), make memories with the people you love, ask for help, embrace cultures and people and places that stretch you, learn a few words in the language you don’t know and speak them with all your heart.  Life is short.
"Easter is the soul's first taste of spring." — Ri "Easter is the soul's first taste of spring." — Richelle E. Goodrich
The Way to Start a Day The way to start a day is t The Way to Start a Day The way to start a day is this: Go outside and face the east and greet the sun with some kind of blessing or chant or song that you made yourself and keep for early morning. 

The way to make the song is this: Don't try to think what words to use until you're standing there alone. When you feel the sun you'll feel the song, too. Just sing it... 

A morning needs to be sung to. A new day needs to be honored... 

Your song will be an offering and you'll be one more person in one more place at one more time in the world saying hello to the sun, letting it know you are there. If the sky turns a color sky never was before just watch it. That's part of the magic. That's the way to start a day. 

~ Byrd Baylo
As I begin to think of myself as a cancer survivor As I begin to think of myself as a cancer survivor, with all the gratitude and uncertainty that phrase contains, turning 67 feels like a milestone, a time to reflect on what it all means. I spent my birthday writing -- a gift to myself, and to you, too. A new blog post is up on my site, please come visit. (Also, I'm giving away a book I love!) https://www.katrinakenison.com/2025/10/04/you-cant-have-it-all/
“The crickets sang in the grasses. They sang the s “The crickets sang in the grasses. They sang the song of summer’s ending, a sad monotonous song. “Summer is over and gone, over and gone, over and gone. Summer is dying, dying.” “ ~ E. B. White, “Charlotte’s Web.” It is surely the most poignant soundtrack of our year, and these nights I step outside before bed to listen with my whole body. Sad, yes, but never monotonous.  #crickets #autumn
“It is this way with wonder: it takes a bit of pat “It is this way with wonder: it takes a bit of patience, and it takes putting yourself in the right place at the right time. It requires that we be curious enough to forgo our small distractions in order to find the world.” ~ Aimee Nezhukumatathil.  Stepping outside at dusk tonight, we found ourselves in the right place. #maine #baileyisland #wonder #sunset #summer

Follow me on Instagram

@ katrina kenison

Copyright © 2026 Katrina Kenison