Kristin von Kreisler was born on October 4, the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi. All her life she has loved and rescued animals. She has written award-winning books about them and has spoken about their welfare on Coast to Coast to 560 U.S. cities and on the Voice of America to 123 million people.
Kristin decided to write about animals when she rescued a desperate laboratory beagle named Bea. After a memoir, For Bea, and two critically acclaimed nonfiction books about animal emotion, she moved on to novels that feature beloved dogs and their people facing contemporary problems. In the national bestseller, An Unexpected Grace, an artist and a golden retriever help each other recover from violence and abuse. In Kristin’s most recent story, A Reason for Hope, a Labrador retriever courthouse dog comforts a bookmobile librarian as she fights for justice after a grievous assault.
Kristin’s books have been translated into twelve languages, and her articles have appeared in anthologies, textbooks, and the Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times, Stanford Magazine, Publishers Weekly, Woman’s Day, and Reader’s Digest, where she was a staff writer. She has taught English at the University of Hawaii and journalism at California State University at San Jose.
Kristin lives on an island in Washington with her husband, John, and her black Lab, Ebby. Kristin says she’d rather work in her garden than breathe. Her kale grows to looming giants, and her lavender and catmint are sirens calling bees. From her desk she watches ospreys and seals, and every hour a ferry passes by. She and John have renovated a historic Victorian farmhouse, where the island’s first postmistress and sheriff once lived with their seven children.
Listen to Kristin talk about aligning her heart with her career on a “Believe in Dog” podcast, February 2022.
Listen to Kristin’s podcast about her rescued beagle and her journey to become an animal writer—produced by The Dodo, January 24, 2021.
Listen to a podcast of Kristin, talking about her life and work, with Anna McClain on Bainbridge Community Broadcasting, March 2014.
