For Immediate Release:
November 6, 2024
Primary Media Contact:
Sally Voth
Public Relations Specialist
[email protected]
Phone: 540-868-7134
Real-life-spy-turned-spy-novelist Alma Katsu is coming to Laurel Ridge for a lunch and learn event Thursday, Nov. 14. She will be on the Middletown Campus between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Pizza will be provided at this free event that is open to the public.
Katsu spent decades working in the intelligence and futurist fields before selling her first book at age 50. As a child growing up in small-town Massachusetts, she dreamed of becoming a writer.
“When I was a child, which was way pre-internet, I was a reader,” Katsu said. “Like most writers, you start out as a little reader. You want to recreate the thing that gives you so much pleasure.”
Longing to become a novelist, but not sure how, Katsu did some freelance reporting while still in high school. After graduating from college, she accepted an opportunity to work in the national intelligence field, something she expected to be a temporary way station on the path to becoming a writer.
“I decided to try it to sort of get out of my hometown and start having a bigger, adventurous life,” Katsu recalled.
And while Katsu thought her side trip into intelligence work would be temporary, she would go on to spend the next 30 years in the intelligence field, followed by a decade as a consultant. The final third of her intelligence career was as a futurist.
“I did a lot of technology forecasting, looking into what emerging technologies were most likely to have the biggest impact to the intelligence community and also societal impact,” she said.
Now, she has already written eight novels – many of them in the horror genre – in addition to anthologies and novellas, with her ninth novel coming out in 2025.
“This is going to be a horror novel,” said Katsu, who is also a contributing critic to the Washington Post Book World. “It’s my first contemporary one. My previous horror novels were historical.”
Laurel Ridge library archivist John Owens met Katsu last summer at a book-signing at Winchester Book Gallery.
“There are a lot of wonderful reasons to have Alma come to the college for a talk, but a big takeaway I want our students and others in the community to have is that you never have to give up on a passion or a dream,” said Owens. “You don’t get one crack at being a writer and that’s it. You can have more than one dream.”
He appreciates how Katsu has successfully melded her long intelligence career with an award-winning second chapter as a writer.
“She can bring an insight to her work that few can,” Owens said.
Among the awards Katsu has received are the Stoker, Goodreads Readers Choice, and International Thriller Writers. Plus, she has been on best books lists through NPR, the Observer, Barnes and Noble, Apple Books, Goodreads and Amazon.
“We’re branching into television, too,” she said. “I have three projects in development for TV series. I’m an executive producer on all of those.”
These include her spy novels, “Red Widow” and “Red London.”
“The major characters are similar because I really wanted to write a story from the perspective of women who work in intelligence today because they’re just not very well represented in pop culture,” said Katsu, adding Hollywood likes the stories “because they feel very real and they’re not exactly like the other spy series out there.”
Sign up to attend or learn more about the lunch and learn at laurelridge.edu/alma. For any questions, contact Andy Gyurisin at [email protected] or 540-868-4077.
*************************
Founded in 1970, Laurel Ridge Community College is a multi-campus public institution of higher education. With three locations — Middletown, Warrenton, and Luray-Page County — the College serves eight localities in the Shenandoah Valley and northern Piedmont regions. The localities are the counties of Clarke, Fauquier, Frederick, Page, Rappahannock, Shenandoah and Warren and the city of Winchester. Laurel Ridge offers more than 75 associate degree and certificate programs in a wide variety of disciplines, in addition to providing access to bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs offered on site by a four-year institution. Laurel Ridge also serves the business community by offering workforce preparation programs for employees and employers. Laurel Ridge serves more than 9,000 unduplicated credit students and more than 11,000 individuals in professional development and business and industry courses annually.
Laurel Ridge Community College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to award associate degrees. Laurel Ridge Community College also may offer credentials such as certificates and diplomas at approved degree levels. Questions about the accreditation of Laurel Ridge Community College may be directed in writing to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, GA 30033-4097, by calling (404) 679-4500, or by using information available on SACSCOC’s website (www.sacscoc.org).
Laurel Ridge Community College is an equal opportunity institution providing educational and employment opportunities, programs, services, and activities. Laurel Ridge shall promote and maintain equal employment and educational opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, marital status, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions including lactation, age (except when age is a bona fide occupational qualification), status as a veteran, national origin, or other non-merit factors. Laurel Ridge also prohibits sexual misconduct including sexual violence or harassment. Inquiries may be directed to the Associate Vice President, Human Resources, [email protected], 173 Skirmisher Lane, Middletown, VA 22645, 540-868-7226.
Laurel Ridge Community College was known as Lord Fairfax Community College until June 2022. For consistency purposes, the college will be referenced as Laurel Ridge going forward.
###