Katya Cengel
@katyacengel.bsky.social
Author of "Straitjackets and Lunch Money", "From Chernobyl with Love" and others with University of Nebraska Press and Woodhall Press. Feature writer with bylines in Smithsonian Magazine, Atavist Magazine and others. Talented at getting lost.
I have avoided reading about this because I can't take dead dog stories in fiction or real life. But this piece by @allisonlanda.bsky.social for @altajournal.bsky.social offers the unique viewpoint of an author who knows the situation intimately and a happy ending. www.altaonline.com/dispatches/a...
The Tragedy of Miranda’s Rescue
Investigation into the Humboldt County animal sanctuary reveals oversight gaps in California's shelter network.
altaonline.com
This story by Masha Hamilton is an example of what journalism does best, make you think about things from a different perspective. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
The children who loved a killer
The Carr family took in Steven Judy, hoping to ‘save’ a troubled teen. They didn’t know he would become one of the most hated men in America
theguardian.com
Brave reporting by Alex Ronan for the @atavist.com A difficult but important read that makes you think – as good stories do –about what you would do in the same situation. No easy answers here. magazine.atavist.com/2026/pilands...
The Extremist in the Family
The Kerrs were devoted to one another and to their faith. But when one of their own rejected modern medicine in the name of God, they faced a dire question: What if her children ever needed a doctor t...
magazine.atavist.com
"I highly recommend the book, especially to those wanting a first-person account of what it was and is like being on the leading edge of biosecurity," writes Amesh A. Adalja for the John Hopkins Center for Health Security about INSIDE THE HOT ZONE. bit.ly/4wx3Vqy
Inside the Hot Zone - Nebraska Press
2021 William E. Colby Award Finalist Inside the Hot Zone is an insider's account of one of the most dangerous workplaces on earth: the United States Arm...
bit.ly
Until the end of the month you can get books University of Nebraska Press half off including both Bluegrass Baseball and Exiled, which covers your summer light read and your heavy read in that order (according to my mom). Use code 6SUMM26 at checkout. www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/summer-readi...
I'm a little late in sharing this but officially the celebration lasts all year so I suppose it still works. Fun little piece I wrote for AARP about notable Americans. www.aarp.org/events-histo...
Significant Older Americans in History
Meet 14 people who made an impact in their later years
aarp.org
Really enjoyed this historical piece by Julian Smith for @altajournal.bsky.social The time and place were as much characters in this story as the train robbing brothers and their victims. www.altaonline.com/dispatches/a...
Echo’s latest read is Mayor of The Tenderloin by Alison Owings grew up in the Bay Area and yet I never knew the history the book gets into on this particular neighborhood. Fascinating look at a neighborhood, a man and the very big topic of homelessness.
Always fun to find my book next to @jillchristman.bsky.social for the annual @univnebpress.bsky.social summer sale. Half off by using the link below and entering the code. www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/summer-readi...
You've never tasted wine this way, I promise! Join us ---- and discover what memories, images, and stories your senses can whisper to you. With @gfaulknerwriter.bsky.social and @jeredspottery.bsky.social. donorbox.org/events/93104...
Listening to Wine: A Tasting and Storytelling Experience | LITQUAKE FOUNDATION (Powered by Donorbox)
donorbox.org
Not sure how Barry Meier found this story about two girls taken on the run by their parents, but I am glad he did. Another great one from @atavist.com magazine.atavist.com/2026/mccann-...
The Fugitive Childhood of a Cocaine Smuggler's Daughters
When their parents ripped two young sisters from their privileged lives, gave them fake names, and took them on the lam, they thought it was because their father was in trouble with the IRS. It would ...
magazine.atavist.com
Oceanheart is just starting out her adult life and yet the choices she makes as a daughter, wife, and mother — as well as a recent college graduate — are made amidst the chaos, despair, and danger of war. @katyacengel.bsky.social talks to Natalie Oceanheart: puncturedlines.com/2026/05/20/w...
Waiting to Exhale: A Q&A with Natalie Oceanheart, author of Life Beyond Fear: A Ukrainian Woman’s Memoir, by Katya Cengel
Natalie Oceanheart begins Life Beyond Fear: A Ukrainian Woman’s Memoir (Potomac Books) with the escalation of fighting in Ukraine in 2022. At the time, Oceanheart is just starting out her adu…
puncturedlines.com
Meredith and Erin grew up on the lam, and for a very long time, they had no idea why. It wasn’t until many years later that they discovered the truth about their father. A gripping story by investigative reporter Barry Meier & our top pick this week. magazine.atavist.com/2026/mccann-...
The Fugitive Childhood of a Cocaine Smuggler's Daughters
When their parents ripped two young sisters from their privileged lives, gave them fake names, and took them on the lam, they thought it was because their father was in trouble with the IRS. It would ...
magazine.atavist.com
Very glad @univnebpress.bsky.social asked me to read this memoir by Natalie Oceanheart on the war in Ukraine. Also glad I met @olgaz.bsky.social and @yelenafurman.bsky.social at a reading on post Soviet writers thanks to Sasha Vasilyuk. puncturedlines.com/2026/05/20/w...
Waiting to Exhale: A Q&A with Natalie Oceanheart, author of Life Beyond Fear: A Ukrainian Woman’s Memoir, by Katya Cengel
Natalie Oceanheart begins Life Beyond Fear: A Ukrainian Woman’s Memoir (Potomac Books) with the escalation of fighting in Ukraine in 2022. At the time, Oceanheart is just starting out her adu…
puncturedlines.com
She not only steals shoes, she wears them too, only backwards.
The creative way this feature by Mina Tavakoli was written is beautiful. It is about impersonators – and all of us. www.nplusonemag.com/issue-53/ess...
Wish You Were Her | Mina Tavakoli
Martha Stewart, Walter White, and Rodney Dangerfield walk into a bar. The bartender looks at Dangerfield, asks what he’s having. “Vodka soda,” he replies. The bartender starts shoveling ice. “Double?”...
nplusonemag.com
One of the things I like about @atavistmag stories is that they don’t sacrifice complexity in their storytelling. Their latest story on hunting is no different, a great read that leaves you pondering some big questions. magazine.atavist.com/2026/san-lui...
The Undercover Agent Who Posed as a Taxidermist to Bust Colorado's Worst Poachers
The San Luis Valley was a wildlife poacher’s paradise. Then George Morrison arrived.
magazine.atavist.com
A beautiful essay about families, fatherhood and the children that so often get forgotten by Joe Bond Makes me want to check out his novel on the same topic. www.theparisreview.org/blog/2026/04...
All My Dad’s Sons by Joe Bond
April 29, 2026 – “Dad would load them into an old Ford Econoline van and the boys would tell their stories, what they called their ‘past histories,’ and I would wedge in beside them and listen.”
theparisreview.org
Wow! The lead pretty much scared me out of ever driving anywhere near a semi ever again. Great read www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
The Car-Crash Conspiracy
High-speed accidents, crooked lawyers, and poor people desperate for cash—it was the kind of scheme that could have been cooked up only in the Big Easy.
newyorker.com
These young people believed their relatively peaceful actions could impact policy. A hopeful story about a dark time with an almost too good to be true courtroom scene towards the end that is perfect for the movies. The latest @atavist.com story by Stephen Wood magazine.atavist.com/2026/buffalo...
The Young Avengers Who Fought the U.S. War Machine in Their Underwear
With thousands of soldiers dying in Vietnam, a group of friends in New York devised a plan to save lives.
magazine.atavist.com
Echo was thrilled to see my story Dear Sister in America in the 2026 issue of Two Thirds North although she preferred the title of another story in the book called The Dog.
This story by Cal Poly SLO journalism grad Amelia Wu does an excellent job of highlighting the importance of voice in journalism – both those within a community and those outside it. objectivejournalism.org/2026/03/lega...
Native Hawaiians, new newsrooms aim to shift journalism on Hawai’i
Legacy journalism on the Hawaiian Islands has long excluded Native Hawaiians. New community-stewarded media looks to change that.
objectivejournalism.org
Excited to have my short story "Dear Sister in America" included in the latest issue of Two Thirds North. You can find it on page 134 www.su.se/download/18.... Thanks @olgaz.bsky.social for editing!
I watched this video while researching my 2023 @atavist.com story "The Truth is out There" it seems now the truth really is out there? magazine.atavist.com/2023/the-tru...
Looking forward to reading this one...
Joy Lanzendorfer@joylanzendorfer.bsky.social · 4mo agoFor @altajournal.bsky.social, I traced the mystery of what happened to AJ, a sparkly intriguing girl I knew in high school who died mysteriously after going missing for a year. I uncovered a dark, poignant story of what happens to women when they slip through the cracks of society.
Journalism offers a window into other worlds, some beautiful, some ugly, most a tangle of the two. A picture from my reporting on nature - and human nature - for @altajournal.bsky.social
