ABOUT 
I am originally from Chicago, Illinois, and I currently live in the Los Angeles area. Since completing my M.A. in English at the University of California, Irvine, I have been  teaching writing and yoga in Southern California. Before becoming a mom, I taught high school English for nearly seven years, during which time I received the 2004 Bravo Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Los Angeles Music Center. 

I have been writing creatively since kindergarten when I was chosen to attend the Illinois Young Author’s Conference for my riveting homemade book entitled, “My Best Friend Corey.”  Since then, I have been honored by having my work included in other lovely publications.  I was a regular contributor to the print and blog editions of edible Los Angeles, and I also have work published in The Edith Wharton Review, ReadWriteThink.org, the anthology Mamas and Papas: On the Sublime and Heartbreaking Art of Parenting, published by City Works Press, and Tiferet: A Journal of Spiritual Literature.  I am deeply interested in the link between the contemplative and spiritual practices of yoga and meditation and the writing process, and how we move our words to express these personal quests and journeys.

I am also a yoga teacher, a doodle-artist, an iPhoneographer, an active gardener, an everyday chef and a wanna-be urban homesteader. Having grown up in Chicago, where I watched my father toil to bury his fig tree during the winter months, I am especially in awe of my arugula and Swiss chard, who laugh in the face of wind and hail.

All work on this site by Kathy Kottaras is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

    
    









EDUCATION
    University of California, Irvine
M.A. English
September 2006

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
B.A. English Education
January 2009
       Cum Laude
        E. Veda Streitmatter and Arlys Conrad Scholar
        Major: Teaching of English / Minor: Social Studies
                                   
    California State University, Fullerton
        Postsecondary Reading and Learning Certification