Maria's Journal

Katrina Shawver is an experienced writer, blogger, speaker, and author of the award-winning HENRY: A Polish Swimmer’s True Story of Friendship from Auschwitz to America. She spent fifteen years researching WWII, Poland, Auschwitz, and the Holocaust and is the recipient of the 2018 Polish Heritage Award from the Polish American Congress of Arizona. A reader at heart, she loves curling up with a good book and a glass of Merlot by her side. For more information, visit katrinashawver.com . How long have you been writing?  My accidental writing career began in 1996. I penned a letter to the editor of the Arizona Republic newspaper in Phoenix, Arizona, and in it I complained about their coverage of schools. Six months later they called me up and asked me to write a regular column in a new community section. I did that for eleven years until the paper downsized. I met a lot of interesting people along the way. A chance meeting in 2002 changed the direction of my life. I met an eighty