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“Watch for this author. She’s going to light up bestseller lists!”
THE AUTHOR
Meet Kate
A longtime lover of writing and reading, Kate Laack remembers writing her first story on the family desktop computer at age eight or nine. It was not an instant classic.
In college at the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse, Kate wrote for the university newspaper where she also sat on the editorial board as head of the Lifestyle section. She earned degrees in English and secondary education, as well as a minor in theater arts, and began teaching high school honors English, modern literature, and speech shortly after graduation.
Kate turned to writing and distance running as relief from the pressures of a first year teacher, and her, now retired, blog Heels or Sneakers chronicled the challenges of both life in the classroom and training for a half marathon. Additionally, she began freelance writing, and her work has been featured on Thought Catalog, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and The Comedy Show Show among others.
After moving to Minnesota and marrying in 2015, Kate turned her writing mostly to professional avenues, completing a master’s degree in curriculum design and technology integration, and writing for numerous professional and trade publications. In particular, her work in building the theater program at Pine Island high school was spotlighted in the National Federation of State High School Associations, and recognized with one of just fifty R.I.S.E. America grants.
Today, Kate writes self-described “Millennial Coming-of-Age” featuring female heroines in their twenties and thirties doing their best to figure out life. Her third novel, By Any Other Name, releases April 28. 2026.
Kate lives in Minnesota with her husband, Josh, and rescue dog, Oakley.
COMING APRIL 28, 2026!!
Jordan Marlowe needs a plan.
Fresh out of her MFA program, she’s bombed an interview at Columbia, collected a stack of rejections from agents and publishers, and stalled out in a spiral of writer’s block. Meanwhile, her best friend is thriving in a PhD program, and her boyfriend is climbing the tech ladder.
Then a delayed flight pushes Jordan into an airport bookstore, and everything changes. On the shelf, she finds a debut novel: The Unbearable Weight of Secrets by Beatrice Mitchell. Just a few paragraphs in, her exhaustion turns to shock. The book isn’t just familiar. It’s hers: a manuscript she drafted, revised, and workshopped years earlier, but never published.
Stunned, Jordan launches a desperate search for answers. Who stole her work, and why? A critique partner who read an early draft? An ambitious classmate eager for a leg up? Her mentor, with the most access to her writing but the most to lose by risking her own, successful career? Or someone else entirely, a stranger who inexplicably knows Jordan’s voice as well as she does?
To reclaim her story, Jordan must be willing to risk everything: her relationship, her future career, and her already fragile belief in herself. Because unmasking Beatrice Mitchell isn’t just about justice. It’s about proving, once and for all, that Jordan Marlowe isn’t just chasing the dream of being a writer. She already is one.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
Kate Laack | Author 