Katherine Hastings grew up in the Cow Hollow neighborhood of San Francisco and lived in Sonoma County, CA for 30 years.  She is the author of 4 collections of poetry as well as several chapbooks and is poet laureate emerita of Sonoma County, CA (2014 — 2016). She was the host of WordTemple on NPR-affiliate KRCB FM for 11 years and curator of the WordTemple Poetry Series in Sonoma County for 12 years.  Poets who read for one or both of these programs include Robert Hass, nikki Giovanni, Ishmael Reed, Alicia Ostriker, Jane Hirshfield, Kjell Espmark, Dana Gioia, Sharon Doubiago, Al Young, David Meltzer, QR Hand, Brenda Hillman, Kevin Simmonds, devorah major, Michael Palmer Michael McClure, Carolyn Kizer, Ellen Bass, Toni Mirosevich and many others.  Her Small Change Series of WordTemple Press published poetry by David Meltzer, devorah major, Neeli Cherkovski, Jack and Adele Foley, Lee Slonimsky, Gwynn O'Gara and others. Following the 2017 wildfires in Northern California, she moved to an island on the Niagara River in Western New York.