Earthen - by Katherine Koller (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The characters in the short stories of Earthen are all in need of guidance: mothers, widows and wives, grandmas and grandpas, teachers, lovers, and the young. They find messages in the earth and rock beneath their feet, the mountains and atmosphere above, or the creatures surrounding them: birds and animals, plants and trees. The natural world insists on a relationship with both characters and readers of Earthen, in stories ranging from realism to fable to speculative fiction.

Featuring "Buckshot", short-listed for the Howard O'Hagan Award for Short Story, 2026

"A compendium of twenty original and deftly crafted short stories, Earthen: Stories clearly documents author/storyteller Katherine Koller's genuine flair for the kind of character and narrative driven style that raises her tales to an impressive level of literary excellence." -- Midwest Book Review

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Review Quotes

"Koller is masterful at scene setting with telling detail ... I marveled at [her] imagination, skill and bravery in producing this diverse collection under the banner of the organic." -- Alberta Views

"The stories in Earthen are about quiet moments, turning points, taking accountability, and dealing with loss and change. Celebrating compassion and connection, these sometimes-tender tales show us that moments that may not seem momentous can still be laden with meaning." -- The Seaboard Review of Books

"A compendium of twenty original and deftly crafted short stories, Earthen: Stories clearly documents author/storyteller Katherine Koller's genuine flair for the kind of character and narrative driven style that raises her tales to an impressive level of literary excellence." -- Midwest Book Review

"Edgily tender, Earthen lets readers in on deep conversations among living beings, some human and some not. Women team up with one another and with females of different species to form clever alliances. A beautiful, provocative read." -- Rona Altrows, author of At This Juncture 2025 winner of the Prairie Grindstone Prize

"Earthen evokes a world under threat--characters redeemed in a folk-tale horror; a future in which personal mementos and belongings are to be destroyed; the amorphous present, in which women's lives play out against a backdrop of ecological devastation or beauty. Each story brings us close to Koller's insistence on tenderness, hope, and survival in a fragile world that refuses to be destroyed." - Lynn Hutchinson Lee, author of Nightshade

About the Author

Katherine Koller is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter, novelist and short story writer. Books are Voices of the Land: The Seed Savers and Other Plays; Art Lessons, a novel; and Winning Chance: Stories, winner of a High Plains Book Award. Short fiction has appeared in Grain, Room, Epiphany, Alberta Views, LitSphere, EDify, The Fiddlehead, and Through the Portal. An avid gardener, Katherine is a founding producer of Edmonton Script Salon, a longstanding monthly new play reading series. www.katherinekoller.ca.