The Author

Kathleen Jabs

Kathleen graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in one of the first classes to include women, earning a Bachelor of Science in English with minors in Russian and Engineering. Her military career included service in Japan, Hawaii, Panama, the Pentagon, and military installations along the East Coast.

Concurrent with her Navy work, Kathleen earned a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from George Mason University. Her short stories have won awards and appeared in literary and national publications, including Good Housekeeping; Hayden’s Ferry Review; Other Voices; The Baltimore Review; Collateral; and Proud to Be: Writing by American Warriors; and other journals. Her story, “Safekeeping,” was selected for the Random House Operation Homecoming anthology and the NPR Selected Shorts program. A four-time fellow at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, she published “Black Wings,” a novel, with Fuze Publishing in 2011. Kathleen lives with her husband in Virginia. They have two adult children.

Publications & Awards

Novels

Black Wings, Fuze Publishing, 2011

Short Stories

“Guam, 1988,” Collateral, Issue 7.1, Fall 2022.

 “Comfort for the Outcasts,” (short story), Honorable Mention, J.F. Powers Short Fiction contest, publication forthcoming in Dappled Things, 2022-2023.

“Acts of Contribution,” Proud to Be: Writing by American Warriors Volume 2, (anthology), Edited by Susan Swartout, Southeast Missouri State University Press, 2013

“Deep Water,” Good Housekeeping, March 2007

“Safekeeping,” Operation Homecoming: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Home Front in the Words of U.S. Troops and Their Families, (anthology), Edited by Andrew Carroll, Random House, 2006

“Combat Town,” Other Voices, Issue 40, Spring/Summer 2004

“Quality of Life,” Hayden’s Ferry Review, Issue 33, Fall/Winter 2003-4

 “Induction,” The George Washington Review, Spring 2003

“Buddy Breathing,” Compass Rose, Spring 2003

“The Captain’s Daughter,” War, Literature & the Arts, Vol. 15, No.1&2, 2003

 “You Have to Stand for Something,” The Baltimore Review, Summer/Fall, 2002

 “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Currents IV, Sept 2002

“Lifeguard,” riverrun, spring 1988

Non-Fiction

“A ‘Dream’ assignment Teaching “I Have a Dream,” The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, VA, Sun, 20 Jan 2008

“Amazing Grace,” (essay), University of New Hampshire Magazine, Winter 2004

“Life and Breath,” (essay) What to Expect When You’re Expected to Teach, edited by Anne Bramblett and Alison Knobluach, Heinemann, 2002

“Redefining Success,” (essay) What to Expect When You’re Expected to Teach, edited by Anne Bramblett and Alison Knobluach, Heinemann, 2002

One Hundred and One Ways by Mako Yoshikawa” (review) Japanophile, summer 2000

Bananaheart and Other Stories by Maria Hara” (review), Japanophile, summer 1999

“Back In Step” (essay), Reunions, Spring 1999, Vol. 9, Number 3

Awards

Fiction Honorable Mention, Warriors Anthology Writing Competition, 2013

Finalist, McLaughlin-Esstman-Sterns First Novel Prize, The Writer’s Center, 2012

Runner-up, Mystery/Thriller Novel, Military Writers Society of America (MWSA), 2012

Finalist, Faulkner House Pirate’s Alley short story contest, May 2006

Honorable Mention, Atlantic Monthly fiction contest, May 2004

Finalist, James Jones First Novel Award, 2003

Reading and Appearances

Williamsburg Book Festival, September 20, 2014

Guest Author, Christopher Wren Association, The College of William and Mary, “A Special Class for Booklovers: Conversations with Published Authors for Readers and Aspiring Writers,” April 9, 2013

“Crime Wave Panel,” VA Festival of the Book, Charlottesville, VA, March 23, 2013

Guest, Neal Richards Show, Radio Xtra 99.1, Gloucester, VA, December 2012

Political Thriller Panel, George Mason University Fall for the Book, September 29, 2012, Springfield, VA

Reading, Fuller Village, Milton, MA, February 26, 2012

Guest presenter, Chesapeake Bay Writers, Annual Luncheon, “Enriching Your Novel With Personal Experience, Avoiding the Pitfalls, and Finding the Best Publisher for It.” February 15, 2012

NEA-sponsored Operation Homecoming forum with Richard Bausch, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, Nov. 28, 2006

NEA-sponsored Operation Homecoming forum, JFK Library, Boston, MA, Nov. 11, 2006.

The Wingate Theatre sponsored by the Wingate Writers Group, Haverhill, MA, Oct. 22, 2001.