Stewart, Katherine (Katherine Silberger Stewart)

PERSONAL:

Born in Boston, MA; married; children: one daughter, one son. Education: Attended the University of Chicago.

ADDRESSES:

Home—New York, NY.

CAREER:

Freelance writer and editor. Former writer for Village Voice, New York, NY.

WRITINGS:

(Under name Katherine Silberger; contributor, with Evelyn McDonnell) Kate Giel, editor, Rent,, book, music, and lyrics by Jonathan Larson, as directed by Michael Grief, Rob Weisbach Books (New York, NY), 1997.

The Yoga Mamas (novel), Berkley Books (New York, NY), 2005.

Class Mothers (novel; sequel to The Yoga Mamas), Berkley Books (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor to periodicals, including Newsweek International, Santa Barbara Magazine, Fit Pregnancy, Marie Claire, Plum, Rolling Stone, and New York Observer.

SIDELIGHTS:

Katherine Stewart was moved to write her first novel while pregnant with her daughter. At the time she was taking prenatal yoga classes, as do the women in The Yoga Mamas. Laura is a freelance marketing consultant who attends classes in a Soho studio, where she becomes part of a circle of wealthy mothers, each of whom has a secret, and who refer to themselves as "The Yoga Mamas." In New York Family, Larissa Phillips wrote: "Stewart has crafted a real hometown novel about early motherhood that is equal parts escapist glamour and warm, real-life relationships." The term "yoga mamas," coined by Stewart, was picked up by the business and marketing communities to describe a demographic of affluent, trend-setting mothers.

Stewart followed Yoga Mamas with Class Mothers, in which Laura returns with daughter in hand. The child is attending an exclusive Manhattan preschool on scholarship, and Laura is, once again, the least-privileged member of her circle of mothers. A classroom incident creates tension between her and them, and she discovers that there is a deeper reason for the rift. Amy Brozio-Andrews reviewed the novel for Library Journal, noting that the way in which Stewart reveals this secret "is clever."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Library Journal, June 15, 2006, Amy Brozio-Andrews, review of Class Mothers, p. 60.

New York Family, September, 2005, Larissa Phillips, review of Yoga Mamas, p. 13.

ONLINE

Bookreporter.com,http://www.bookreporter.com/ (May 18, 2007), Lourdes Orive, review of The Yoga Mamas.

Katherine Stewart Home Page,http://www.katherinestewart.net (May 18, 2007).