Originally from East Germany, Katja Bartholmess is a writer living in Los Angeles. Her debut novel Former Hopeful was shortlisted for the Santa Fe Writers Project Literary Award 2025 and nominated for the 2026 James Kirkwood Prize.

A graduate of the UCLA Masterclass in Novel Writing and current student at Granta’s Literary Novel Workshop, she has published journalistic and literary work in English and German, most recently in Journal of the Westbrae Literary Group and Lit Angels. She hosts Writing Gets Lonely, a local writers' community, and is never far from a hiking trail, gallery or concert venue.

You can read a more indulgent bio here.