Katrina Shawver

Katrina Shawver is an author, lifelong history geek, and relentlessly curious about finding unknown stories. Her first book, Henry: A Polish Swimmer's True Story of Friendship from Auschwitz to America, about a Polish survivor of Auschwitz and Buchenwald, garnered many awards and reviews, and is now available in English, Polish, and Czech. She holds a B.A. from the University of Arizona in English/Political Science and an M.A. from the School of Trial and Error. In 2002, while writing for The Arizona Republic newspaper, she met Henry Zguda, a Polish survivor of German concentration camps, and soon offered to write his incredible story. They became close friends and friendship remains a theme throughout. She spent many years researching Poland, World War II, and the Holocaust. Katrina is the recipient of the 2018 Polish Heritage Award and is passionate about the power of the written word to influence opinion, provoke discussion, and inform folks of interesting people and organizations. She lives in Phoenix, Arizona, where she can hike the nearby mountains any time she wants. Give her a good book, cozy chair, and a glass of Merlot and she sighs contentment. To find out more, please visit https://katrinashawver.com/