SUBMITTED PHOTO Ann Hanigan Kotz, author of “The Journey of Karoline Olsen.”

Jefferson library to host author talk on May 24

Special to the Jefferson Herald

The Jefferson Public Library will host an author talk and book signing with Iowa author Ann Hanigan Kotz on Wednesday, May 24 at 2:00 pm at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Jefferson. Her debut historical novel is called The Journey of Karoline Olsen and is based on her own family’s heritage, traced back to its roots in western Iowa and reimagined through a fictional story.

As an author writing about this seldom-depicted part of Iowa, Hanigan Kotz said, “I enjoyed learning more about the location and history of my family’s roots and introducing my readers to the small towns located in that area. I find myself humbled in being a representative for that time and those people.”

Hanigan Kotz and her five siblings grew up on a large farm southwest of Denison, Iowa. In the summer, she spent time at the library and reading became a passion early in her life that she would later share as a teacher with her students. She remembers visiting her Norwegian relatives in Soldier and other areas in the Loess Hills. The smell of her great-grandfather Tingvald Olson’s pipe and the sound of his fiddle are imagery that found its way into her novel.

After high school, Hanigan Kotz graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with a B.A. in English and earned her Master’s in Teaching at Viterbo University. She taught in Charles City and Afton before moving to central Iowa. The bulk of her teaching career, 30 years, was at Waukee High School as an advanced placement English teacher. Hanigan Kotz picked up her writing career after her retirement. She credits her writing ability to studying and teaching the craft. She currently resides with her husband in Adel, Iowa.

The Journey of Karoline Olsen begins when her husband Kristoffer dies from a burst appendix in Iowa in 1905. Middle-aged Karoline Olsen, mother of six, must make the

145-mile trip from Cedar Falls to Soldier, Iowa by horse-drawn wagon to bring his body home. With the corpse on fast-melting ice, Karoline struggles to make good time across the rolling prairie during an exceptionally hot summer, recalling the story of their rocky marriage that brought them from Norway to the New World. The young couple, eager and naïve, arrive in the United States in 1884, with hopes of establishing a farm among other Norwegian immigrants, but are met instead with constant battle against disease, famine, and poverty. A chronicle of the Olsen’s fight to survive in the undeveloped Midwest, to preserve tradition in a new context, and to protect their family from the ravages of pioneer living, The Journey of Karoline Olsen is the tale of a woman and a wife building the American Dream out of nothing but the dirt on which she stands.

“Ann’s book is a relatable history for those of us who had ancestors that immigrated to Iowa or the Midwest in the 1800s. Karoline and Kristoffer’s story takes us back in time to the hardships that our ancestors endured as they struggled to make a life in this new land and gives us insight into their strength and perseverance,” said library director Jane Millard.

This novel may be checked out from the Library or purchased from the author and autographed the day of her program. It is also available for purchase at any bookstore, online bookseller, or directly from the publisher.

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