Author Talk with Judy Kiehart on her memoir Calico Lane

Calico Lane was launched in January 2022 and went on to win a BIBA (Best Indie Book Award) in the LGBTQ Memoir category. The question, How do we survive when who we are is not the person people expect? is tenderly woven into this award-winning memoir.

In a time before sexual identity became a household phrase, pre-teen Judy develops confusing emotions for a playmate. The Lane, a neighborhood in Pennsylvania, is surrounded by dense woods, creeks, and rutted mining tracks. Not even the rumored child-eating spiders inside an old structure scare Judy. What frightens the youngster is that someone may discover her secret. Armed with an affable sense of humor and her mother's housekeeping principle, "everything in its place and a place for everything" Judy begins a life of pretense. After all, the best way to survive being different is to hide the truth, isn't it? Judy Kiehart's Calico Lane deals with universal themes of family, acceptance, faith, and love. Harboring a secret is paralyzing and Calico Lane shows the determination one must possess to become true to the person they are.

Calico Lane is Judy Kiehart’s first novel. Her writing achievements include one-act plays and short stories. Works staged in Colorado were Assumptions, Some Angels Play Checkers, and Global Holiday; LEON was staged in Olympia this past December. Judy’s most recent short story, ‘Listen, the Board is Talking,’ has been accepted for the 2023 NIWA Anthology, Harbinger. She holds memberships with the National Association of Memoir Writers, the Pacific Northwest Writer's Association, and the Northwest Independent Writers Association (NIWA).

When Judy’s not writing, she’s reading mysteries and memoirs or watching psychological thrillers (she never shares her popcorn). Judy is an avid hiker, an enthusiastic dog greeter, and a fan of beach vacations. She lives with her wife in Olympia, Washington.