Kathleen George (A&S ‘63) is a fiction writer and current professor in the Theatre Arts department in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. Born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, George earned her Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Pittsburgh in 1963, followed by her MA and PhD in theatre arts in 1966 and 1975 respectively. She also earned her MFA in creative writing in 1988. Before working at Pitt, she taught theatre at Carlow College for eight years.
George began publishing fiction in 1999 with collection of short stories: The Man in The Buick.. Since then, she has authored the acclaimed Richard Christie crime series, which includes 7 titles, all set in Pittsburgh. Among her works in historical fiction, The Johnstown Girls finds inspiration in the Johnstown floods of 1889, and The Blues Walked In follows the life of actress and singer Lena Horne. Her most recent novel, Mirth, was published in 2022.
She is the editor of Pittsburgh Noir, a collection of short fiction, and her own short fiction stories have been published in journals and magazines, including Mademoiselle, Cimarron Review, North American Review, New Letters, and Alaska Quarterly Review.
George was married to the late Carnegie Mellon professor and author Hilary Masters.