Katy Hays is an accomplished author known for her novel The Cloisters, which became a New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller, as well as a Read With Jenna Pick. In addition to her writing career, she serves as an adjunct Art History Professor, teaching rural students from Truckee to Tecopa.

Katy holds an MA in Art History from Williams College and pursued her PhD in Art History at UC Berkeley. Her academic work has been published by Ashgate, an imprint of Routledge. Her fiction explores themes such as the boundaries of belief, strange-but-real worlds, and complex female friendships.

Based in California, she lives in the shadow of the Sierra Nevada with her husband and their dog, Queso. Besides her love for writing and cake, Katy is an avid skier, cyclist, trail runner, and eastern Sierra enthusiast.