Journalist and author calls herself a 鈥減lace writer鈥� 鈥� someone who anchors her work in vivid details about a particular corner of the world. In her debut novel 鈥淪hadows Of Flowers (The Smoky Mountain News/2017),鈥� Kays takes readers to a small town in Wyoming that sits among vast and isolated wilderness.
Although she says the novel is far from her own personal story, the similarities are inescapable. The book follows a young journalist who moves to Buffalo, Wyoming to process her grief after her boyfriend is killed in a car accident. The character Dana Stullman struggles to find community and to reconnect with God. Buffalo, Wyoming is a place Kays herself knows well 鈥� she spent time there as a reporter for a local media outlet and struggled to find her way in an unfamiliar small town.
Kays is now a reporter and outdoors editor for the . speaks with host Frank Stasio about her creative process and belief that when it comes to writing, the key is to be concise. Kays speaks at the
