Kate Gadbow

Background

Gadbow was born in the United States, though neither the year nor the date of his birth is known.

Education

Gadbow received a College Preparatory degree from the University of Montpellier in 1973. She then studied at the University of Montana, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in 1974, and a Master of Fine Arts in 1986.

Career

Gadbow is a fiction writer who teaches at the University of Montana in Missoula, where she also directs the school's Creative Writing program. Her first novel, Pushed to Shore, won the Mary McCarthy prize in 2001 and was published in 2003.

Pushed to Shore traces the lives of a group of Hmong and Vietnamese immigrants who settled in Montana after the Vietnam War and the English teacher who helps them learn a new language and culture. The teacher, Janet, is herself somewhat displaced, having earlier ended her marriage and moved to Montana from Washington state. She encourages her students to begin writing about their experiences, and one describes escaping from Vietnam in a fishing boat that was "pushed to the kind shore by a finger of God." However, the transition is difficult, both for the immigrant group and for Janet.

Achievements

• Gadbow is best known as the author of an award-winning novel Pushed to Shore. It was noted by reviewers as "a quiet portrait, in a plain and straightforward style, of simple and unassuming people who rise above horrendous tribulations."

Works

More photos

• book

  • Pushed to Shore: A Short Novel

    (From the Foreword by Rosellen Brown In an essay written f...)

    2003

Connections

Kate is married to Daryl Gadbow, a journalist. The couple has two children: Grady and Alison.

Spouse:

Daryl Gadbow

Son:

Grady Gadbow

Daughter:

Alison Gadbow

References

• Contemporary Authors Volume 221
  2004