Kay Smith-Blum, named Western WA Woman Business Owner of 2013 and a former Seattle School Board President, is a lover of the natural world and an avid gardener. Smith-Blum founded Environmental Endeavors, the first greenhouse program in Seattle Public Schools, and is a leading advocate for a park in the last green space in Belltown, a neighborhood with a high level of low-income residents in Seattle’s downtown core.

Intrigued by the tropes of the mid-20th Century, Smith-Blum previously penned two tales set in Texas, but the recent upheaval over leaking waste tanks at the Hanford site drew her to a new project. A meticulous researcher, Smith-Blum felt compelled to write the Hanford story in a way that would daylight this important story to a broader audience. Her novel, TANGLES, will be the first adult fiction work centered on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

Smith-Blum’s award-winning short works may be found in multiple literary journals, including her humorous essay series, "Virus Days." A companion short story to TANGLES will be published in Feisty Women: The HistFict Authors 2024 Anthology. An Austin, TX transplant, Smith-Blum resides in Washington State and has been an active member of the community for four decades.

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