Interview with Katie Powner & a Giveaway

Please welcome Katie Powner back to the blog this week! I love Katie’s books, and her upcoming release, Birds on a Wire, is no exception! As a member of Katie’s launch team, I have the privilege of reading an early copy, and I think you’re going to love it!

Be sure to comment below by April 21 for a chance to win a paperback of Birds on a Wire! (US winner only)

Welcome back to the Hope-Filled Fiction blog, Katie! For those who might not know you, please tell us a little about yourself and your family.

We live in a small town in Montana. My husband and I have been married for 22 years. We have two biological children, one adopted, and about a dozen that we have fostered over the past ten years. We also have a few chickens and a cat named Bartholomew. 

I love that you and your family foster precious kiddos. How and when did you start writing? 

I’ve been writing since I can remember. It’s always been a part of my life. I wrote a lot of short stories and poetry growing up, as well as newspaper articles, then moved into a songwriting phase in my twenties. 

When I turned thirty, I started thinking about writing an actual novel, but with three young kids at the time, whom I was homeschooling, I didn’t know how that would work. I figured I should wait until the kids had grown up and left the house. But I had a vivid scene in my mind that I felt compelled to write down one night, and the next thing I knew, I had a completed novel. 

That book was never published, but it inspired me to write another one, and another one, and here we are.

I, and many other readers, are thankful you kept writing! How long, on average, does it take you to write a book?

The fastest I’ve ever completed a first draft was in four months, while other stories have taken up to eight months to complete. So I would say six months is the average.

Is Birds on a Wire inspired by true events or personal history? 

Yes, Birds on a Wire is very loosely based on my personal experience as a foster mom. No two foster care cases are alike, and I didn’t try to make this story match a particular case, but I used a case we were involved in as inspiration.

I adore books based on true stories, and I love Birds on a Wire. Please share the premise of the book.

In Birds on a Wire, a foster mom and a bio mom form a tenuous friendship over the baby they both love. As their lives become intertwined, the two very different women find themselves asking the same impossible question: Who is the best mother for the baby?

That’s such a compelling concept, and I can attest that readers will root for both moms. What do you hope your readers take away from Birds on a Wire?

One of the reasons I wrote this book was to show people what foster care is really like and to challenge some of the assumptions and misconceptions I see people make about foster care. I hope readers come away from the story with a new understanding of what people involved in foster care go through and with greater compassion for bio parents.

As a previous Court-appointed Special Advocate (CASA), I had an up-close look at foster families and bio parents, but your book has opened my eyes even more, so mission accomplished! How many unpublished and unfinished manuscripts do you have? Any plans to pursue publication for any of them?

I currently have six unpublished manuscripts and zero unfinished. Of the six unpublished, there are two for which I have high hopes of publication someday. One is on submission right now and there are plans to send the other out as well. 

Then there are two that I doubt will ever be published because they cover very controversial topics. No publisher is going to want to touch them, so I would have to self-publish them.

Of the remaining two unpublished manuscripts, one I believe has a shot at future publication if I went back and did a major revision, and the other, my very first completed novel, has no chance at publication. It’s honestly pretty terrible and I hope no one ever reads it.

Sounds like some good possibilities ahead, and maybe God will direct you to self-publish those controversial books! What are you reading right now?

I just finished Theo of Golden by Allen Levi and am now reading The Writing Life by Annie Dillard.

What’s next from you?

After Birds on a Wire, I have another book coming out in July. It’s an UpLit general market novel called The Second Chance Trailer Park. It will be my first book published in the general market, but the only difference in content between it and all my previous Christian fiction books is that the faith content is more subtle. 

There’s a lot of debate about whether Christian authors should write for the general market, but in my mind, the general market is like a mission field. I hope I can bring a little truth and shine a little light there.

Several years ago, I heard the term “Paper Missionaries,” and I think that applies to your goal to shine light into the world. May God bless you as you follow that endeavor, Katie!

Join the conversation. Have you read any of Katie’s novels? Which is your favorite? Are you looking forward to reading Birds on a Wire? What questions or comments do you have for Katie?

Comment below by April 21 for a chance to win a paperback of Birds on a Wire! (US winner only)

Birds on a Wire by Katie Powner

Click the book cover for more info & purchase link

Eighteen-year-old Bri Marshall is determined to do whatever it takes to get her newborn son back after he’s taken by CPS. But the chances of reunification with Providence are slim. Her drug-addicted boyfriend is the only reason she has a roof over her head. With no job, no car, and no family support, she’s at rock bottom, hanging on to hope by a thread.

Laura Gambler, on the brink of turning forty, is managing new challenges with her own children when she’s asked to take in Providence. She never could have imagined the chain of events her agreement to foster the baby would set in motion—or the carefully buried pain from her past it would drag back to the surface.

Both women wrestle with doubts about the future and their ability to parent Providence, even as their love for him grows stronger every day. As their lives become irrevocably intertwined, they face an impossible question: Who is the best mother for Providence?

Katie Powner is an award-winning author who lives in Montana, where cows still outnumber people. She writes contemporary fiction about everyday people, filled with humor and heart, including the Christy Award-winning novels Where the Blue Sky Begins and The Wind Blows in Sleeping Grass. Katie is a mom to the third power (biological, adoptive, and foster) who loves candy, Jesus, and red shoes…not necessarily in that order.

Connect with Katie: Website / Facebook / Instagram

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If you missed last week’s post with the 2026 April new releases, FIND IT HERE.