She met her husband at Carleton College in Northfield, where she majored in religion. Writing stories began for Kritzer when she was 9, and by high school she was imagining “coherent stories” with beginnings, middles and ends.

She was also on her way to becoming a master gardener. Her mother, Amelia, who died in 2016, was associate professor of theater at the University of St. Now he teaches at the University of Minnesota law school. Kritzer grew up in Madison, Wis., where her dad, Herbert “Bert” Kritzer was a professor of political science and law at the University of Wisconsin. Albert the Great church daughters Molly, 19, and Kiera, 16 and their cats. But the virus kept her at the home she shares with her husband, Edward Burke, a former IT project manager who works in lay ministry at St. If we were living in normal times, Kritzer would have been applauded for her wins at fancy dinners and awards ceremonies. That’s one of the reasons she loves writing young adult novels there are few hard boundaries.

Kritzer, who considers herself a science fiction/fantasy writer, is pleased but surprised that her novel is winning accolades in mystery. “Catfishing on CatNet” (Tor Teen, $17.99), is also a finalist in three forthcoming competitions: The Nebula Award given by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (May 30) a Thriller Award from International Thriller Writers (July 11) and a Lodestar Award, part of the World Science Fiction Society’s Hugo Awards (Aug.

In early May her book was a Silver Winner in the Nautilus Book Awards, which focus on books striving to make a better world. She won a Minnesota Book Award on April 28, and on April 30 she won a Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award. Last month Kritzer collected two prestigious awards in three days. It’s based on her award-winning, 2015 short story “Cat Pictures Please.” Her genre-jumping young adult novel “Catfishing on CatNet, ” about teenagers who befriend a sentient artificial intelligence who lives in the internet, is scooping up major honors. Now, 43 years later, The Force is with this St. It all appealed to me and sold me on science fiction,” Kritzer recalls. “I was grabbed by John Williams’ music, the lightsabers, the magic of The Force. Naomi Kritzer was 4 when she discovered science fiction through the first “Star Wars” film.

Catfishing on catnet summary