Blue Asylum (Hepinstall)

Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—state of Texas, US
• Education—M.A., University of Houston
• Currently—lives in California


As a baby, Kathy Hepinstall was once thrown out with the bath water. This experience shaped her life and art. She grew up in Texas but eventually escaped after earning a Master's at the University of Houston. Later, she worked for in various advertising agencies located in Los Angeles, California,  then freelanced for a number of years, during which she wrote her first two novels, The House of Gentle Men (2000) and The Absense of Nectar (2001).

The House of Gentle Men was a finalist in the Penn Faulkner Awards West. A perfect storm of serendipity and good timing made it #1 on the LA Times Bestseller list.

Kathy was also a partner/creative director at Martin Agency/San Francisco from 2000—2001 and creative director at Chiat Day in Los Angeles from 2001 – 2002.

Her third novel, Prince of Lost Places, was published in 2003 and has been optioned as a movie, along with The House of Gentle Men. Her fourth novel, Blue Asylum, came out in 2012.

Kathy’s ad work has appeared in One Show, CLIOS, Cannes, Calif, NYAD, Kelly Awards, Time Magazine's "Ten Best Campaigns of the Year," and also in Archive magazine. Her short film, "Pee Shy" (directed by Deb Hagan) won first place in the national No Spot Advertising Awards and was sold to HBO Latin America.

She was a writer-at-large at Team One from 2003-2005. She has freelanced from 2005 to the present. (From the author's website.)