About Me February 2, 2007
The Life and Times of Catherine Brittain Allison Granju
My name is Katie Allison Granju and I am a writer/editor/online producer/mama living in East Tennessee. I have four children, ages 16, 12, 10 and 1. My husband is Jon Hickman. We were married in September, 2006, and he’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. He’s a peach.
Most of my growing up years were spent in Bell Buckle, TN after my parents decided that 1.) raising their kids in in Los Angeles didn’t suit them and subsequently, 2.) living as organic farming hippie-writers in early 1970s Washington State wasn’t for them either. So we settled in Bell Buckle, where I had an idyllic childhood on a rundown old farm, surrounded by cousins and grandparents and my parents’ odd assortment of interesting and eccentric friends and neighbors.
Over the years, many members of my family have migrated to Bell Buckle from all over the country, so now it’s like Allison/Anderson central. My children love Bell Buckle as much as I did as a child and there is nothing they would rather do than spend a few days there, playing with their friends and cousins and being petted by grandparents and great-grandparents.
My education includes grades 7-12 at the fondly-recalled Webb School in Bell Buckle, 6 years of flaky college work (should have taken 4) at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, and a fellowship at the University of London, interning with a Member of the British Parliament.
My mother, father, uncle, and grandmother are all writers and each of them has made their living freelancing at various times. My grandmother, Nancy Anderson, was an editor with Photoplay magazine in the 60s and early 70s, and was an entertainment columnist for Copley News Service for many years after that. My Uncle John’s writerly claim to fame is having penned the cover story for the lowest selling issue of Rolling Stone ever.
Everyone in my family told me I should do something - anything - other than become a writer.
So I tried. I really did. I worked in group homes for kids in foster care, waited tables, dropped in and out of law school - but basically it came down to the fact that writing is the only thing I know how to do. So I have now been writing/editing for a living since 1995 and my articles and essays have appeared in a variety of online and print publications, including the New York Times, Babble.com, the Chicago Sun, The Chicago Tribune, Salon.com, Cooking Light, Hip Mama, Pregnancy magazine, AustinMama.com, the Knoxville News Sentinel, Breastfeeding.com, MSN’s women’s channel,Brain Child,PARENTING, Cooking Light, PhillyMama.com, etc, etc.
Between 2004-2008, I was a producer with the NBC/Gannett affiliate in Knoxville, TN, but as of August ‘08, I begin a new job as a project manager with Scripps - in the newspaper division - helping to evaluate and launch new media start-ups.
I was accepted to the Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference in non-fiction in 2005, but alas, logistics prevented me from going. Maybe next year! That’s definitely something I’d like to do one day.
I’ve been involved in politics for many years and first interned with a Tennessee congressman in Washington D.C. for several months when I was fifteen (I have no idea what my parents were thinking). I spent two college summers in D.C. working on the Hill, and I also served as national treasurer of College Democrats of America during that period. These days, I have a strong interest in a number of issues specific to my adopted hometown. I have been involved in many Democratic campaigns over the years and I intend to eventually run for office myself. I’m one of those dewy eyed optimists who still believes that public service matters, and can make a difference. I was raised that way, and hope to impart the same values to my children.
I wrote the book Attachment Parenting: Instinctive Care for Your Baby and Young Child, and I’ve been published in several anthologies. I have an essay in Andrea Buchanan’s new book, out from Seal Press in October ‘05. I have a piece in the anthology of New York Times “Modern Love” essays, published by Riverhead Press in 2006, and I’m included in several other essay anthologies as well.
Aside from my work, I stay pretty busy with mothering and trying to renovate the giant, 100 year old house we live in. It’s located in a historic neighborhood near Downtown Knoxville. My daughter and I both ride horses, and we love going to horse shows. Other interests of mine include feminism, social justice issues, buddhism, good books, good beer, powerpop, online social networking, new media, online journalism, grammar & punctuation, long walks, knitting, lactivism, music, my animals, architecture (20th century kit houses, bungalows, new urbanism, not-so-big-house movement, etc), and hanging out with friends and family.
You can reach me at katie.granju@gmail.com
