Award-Winning
Literary Excellence
Compelling Narratives That Resonate With Readers
Upcoming Novel
Spring of the Year is a dramatic upcoming novel centered on a dangerous love triangle. The beautifully naïve newlywed, Cordelia, risks her marriage, her career as a concert violinist, and her deep desire for a family when she becomes entangled with the alluring bird guide, Wiley Dodd.
SPRING OF THE YEAR
Preface
Ah, Never Doubt
Ah, never doubt that love exists
Or that it can awaken with a lover’s kiss
Or that after that it will wax and wane
Never doubt that unless there is a vow to seal that kiss
A vow that tested continues to persist
This love of ours will drift away
And all that will remain is this
Once a lover touched my lips.
Katharine Crawford Robey
Chapter One: The Merlin Falcon Speaks
The sky was blue as the sea that spring day I barreled to shore and landed on the parapet of Fort Jefferson. A thunder and lightning storm had buffeted me about the night before, but I’d cleverly saved myself—I hitched a ride on the smokestack of a freighter.
I peered down at hundreds of birds on the ground or in bushes or trees. The flight across the more than five-hundred-mile Gulf of Mexico in the storm, had drowned many and the rest, the lucky ones, were so exhausted they could barely move.
Below my high perch, I saw only one birdwatcher aim his binoculars at me—beautiful dark me. The other birders, mainly men, were watching a young woman who seemed to float through the crowd. She was a little taller than a Whooping Crane. Her hair, the color of ripening maize and glossy as corn silk. The breeze tossed it about her face. She kept trying to brush it away. Some guy with arms and legs as lanky as a Magnificent Frigatebird’s wings and tail—frigatebirds hang around the island—grabbed her hand. She pulled away. Neither one had binoculars...how stupid of them...neither one was talking to the other...
The International Conference on the Short Story in English
The International Conference on the Short Story in English was launched in 1988 in Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris, by the Society for the Study of the Short Story in English (SSSSE). Starting as a colloquium, it has since grown significantly in stature and prominence worldwide.
From Award-Winner to an Essential Read
Katharine Crawford Robey is the first-place winner of the prestigious 2023 International Short Story Contest! Her award-winning submission, "Last Train to Banff," is a fantastic read. Katharine's upcoming collection, "Men, Women, Birds," gathers ten short stories that delve into the heart of love, loss, and longing. While the characters vary, the entire collection is connected by a beautiful, consistent thread: the vital presence of wild birds in their lives.
Deep, Relatable Themes
Her stories focus on universal and enduring human experiences such as love, loss, and longing.
Literary Community Leader
Katharine is a founding member of the Spirited Scriveners, a group founded in Atlanta, working in diverse genres. She also holds literary workshops for children at the Glen Lake Community Library in Michigan.
Unique Connection to Nature
Her narratives are connected by the vital presence of the natural world and wild birds.