About
Author oiling her father's steam donkey
Award-winning author KB TAYLOR has six books under her belt and now starting her seventh. Her first novel, "The Seagirls of the Irene", won the 2020 WILLA Award for middle grade, tying with New York Times Best-Selling Author, Sandra Dallas.
Two more prestigious awards followed: the WILL ROGERS MEDALLION, garnering her a GOLD for Best Historical Romance for "Hattie's Family." The next year, a BRONZE, for Book Two of the Seagirl Adventure trilogy: "Forging Through Unknowns." She attended both of the award ceremonies in Fort Worth, Texas, stating she loved every aspect of it, especially the authors and coordinators, all so warm and welcoming.
Raised in the Pacific Northwest, KB Taylor uses her pen name for historical fiction and non-fiction. Pen name, DK Taylor, is used when collaborating on a nonfiction with her sister as they did with her sixth book: "Schoolhouse Memories."
All of her books are based on Grays Harbor, Washington State family history, dating back to the 1880s. Her Seagirl books are about a steamboat built by her great-grandfather and manned by his three young daughters. They never had boys, so had an all-girl crew.
Her last three books have been non-fiction, all now for sale in museums:
She worked closely with the curator of the Bushwhacker Museum, Nevada, Missouri while writing "The Magic Healer's Daughter." Her great-grandparents attended the Weltmer Institute in Nevada, early 1900s, to become natural healers. They were featured on one of the life-size-banners for a traveling Weltmer exhibit that toured across the State of Missouri. After completing the book, she donated all of her family Weltmer artifacts to the Bushwhacker Museum for a permanent Weltmer exhibit currently under construction.
KB Taylor resides in Washington State with her husband. She previously lived in San Diego where she started writing--actually learning the craft--and later won the San Diego Book Award for the Seagirls in manuscript form. Her father, a historian and a steam artifact collector, wrote throughout his life for magazines and local newspapers and passed his love of Pacific Northwest/ family history down to her.