I’m  K.M. Cholewa.   I’m a novelist, ghost writer, and writer of personal and political essays. 

I am the middle child of five of a Polish immigrant father and a college educated, American mother who eloped in Switzerland after meeting in Germany. My last name is difficult to pronounce. Yet, I've always been fond of it and felt it gave me a certain anonymity in the world, sort of an anti-Cheers, where nobody knows your name.

My first home was the bottom floor of a two-flat in Chicago. Mom danced to Tom Jones in the livingroom and Dad played poker in the back room of Ozzie’s Barber Shop on Lawrence Ave. We later moved to the suburbs and it was different.  Serious white bread. Still, my parents threw some good parties. There was always booze in the house, but not in a bad, alcoholic way. 

I am the proud product of benign neglect. 

K.M. and her dog, Carmen

K.M. and her dog, Carmen

No complaints. 

I attended the University of Illinois and overall I would have to say I was quite happy there. I loved moving away from home and having my own bedroom for the first time in my life.

After college, I moved to the Jersey Shore, and lived there, more or less, for the next two years.   I liked the life. Good money waiting tables, writing a little for the local beach rag to have something for the resume, and hanging out by the ocean.  I loved the off-season, too, when it went ghost town. 

I hit the gas hard out of New Jersey when it was time to go and went to graduate school at the University of Montana’s Writer’s Workshop which had a good reputation and was sort of “hot” at the time.  We don’t need to go into all that but I came out with an MFA in Creative Writing and an MA in English with a teacher training emphasis. 

The cosmic dimension to life interests me as does life's nuts and bolts. I believe in physics more so than God, but also believe it's all the same thing. 

I have had a career in politics and public policy for 25 years. For the last eight, I have worked on marijuana policy. I'm on LinkedIn here.

In October of 2015, I was attacked by a grizzly bear. It changed everything and is the focus of my current manuscript in process.

I live in Montana.

With my dog, of course.   

K.M. (Kate) Cholewa (Ho-le’-va