Hi, I’m McKenna. I’m a storyteller. I’m fascinated by the way stories shape culture and vice versa and the role storytelling plays in identity — we are all living stories, and the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves can be quite different than the stories others tell about us.

I am who I am because of the stories I read and the stories I write. My greatest influence is the natural world — specifically the landscapes of the Pacific Northwest — in all its wonder, strangeness, cruelty and beauty. My literary influences range from speculative fiction greats Ursula K. Le Guin and Octavia Butler to contemporary writers like Nghi Vo, Ottessa Moshfegh, and Emily St. John Mandel to poetry and Victorian literature.

As a creative writer, my first love is fiction, but I also write poetry and have experimented in creative nonfiction, screenwriting, and playwriting. I am currently writing two novels: one combines elements of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and environmentalism and is set in a far-future U.S. post-global warming era, and the other is a follow up to and reimagining of Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw.

In my professional life I work as a writer and editor. I help brands and individuals share their stories through a variety of mediums, from content marketing pieces to news stories to email newsletter content.

I am pursuing an MFA in Writing from Pacific University, focused in fiction. I graduated from the University of Washington with a BA in English, but I also dedicated much of my undergraduate career to studying psychology and other social sciences. I am a self-taught photographer. If there’s something I don’t know how to do but want to learn, I will teach myself; I’m always eager for a challenge.

When I’m not working or writing, you can find me walking or hiking, rain or shine; tending to my sizable houseplant collection; snuggled on the couch with my pug, Jane, and a book; or nerding out over a sci-fi or fantasy TV show (especially if it’s the X-Files).