La Libertad: Where are you from?
Kathy: I was born and raised in a small rural
town, Eureka, Kansas, in the Flinthills of Kansas.
Since 1987, I have lived in East Texas - Holly
Lake Ranch, and, for the past ten years, have lived
in a cabin, deep in the piney woods that I call Murphy's Law.
La Libertad: How did you start your prolific
book club?
Kathy: At the beginning of the new millennium, January 18, 2000, I opened the first Hair Salon/Book Store in the country, Beauty and the Book, in historic Jefferson, Texas. From the get-go, this new endeavor was instantly hit by both print and media attention, including a feature in then John Grisham's magazine, Oxford American, titled "Hairdresser to the Authors." The local book club then called me and invited me to join their next meeting. I arrived at [a] southern plantation home, for a four-course luncheon, followed by cordials, in the front sitting room, and book club discussion. I had miraculously read the book and, at the end of the meeting, inquired what our next read would be. The
hostess jumped from her seat, grabbed me by the elbow and directly led me out into the galley in her home. She told me in a whisper, "I am so sorry, Kathy, we did not invite you to join our book club. We invited you only to be a guest. Unless somebody dies or moves away, only eight can be in our book club."
I was horrified and more than embarrassed; it was kind of my Jessica Chastain moment, in the film
"The Help." I quickly excused myself and drove home.
As I was driving, I thought, who made up that rule - that only eight could be in a book club. I made nine as a guest and we all fit around her table. I thought I would start my own book club, where everybody is welcome to join. I started The Pulpwood Queens of East Texas Book Club, with eight complete strangers that grew into [more than] one hundred by the time we were featured [with] Diane Sawyer and Charlie Gibson, on "Good Morning America." I read, select, and pick all my official books. The first time we were featured on the ABC show, I announced our read was "The Absence of Nectar" by Kathy Hepinstall.
Then I was invited back to kick off their READ THIS Book Club, and announced our new official read, "The Dive from Clausen's Pier" by Ann Packer. By then, twelve chapters spread out, throughout the ArkLaTexas [Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, and/or Oklahoma]. I was driving to all the chapters in my d*** minivan. Then I was asked if author Mark Lee and Mary McNamarra of the Los Angeles Times could ride along with me.
The feature titled "The Tastemakers" was featured on the front cover of that Sunday edition, with a full color, double page spread inside to boot.
Now the International Pulpwood Queens and Timber Guys Book Club READING NATION has [more than] eight hundred chapters...with thousands of members...in [more than twenty] countries. Now, almost twenty-three years later, we are the largest "meeting and discussing" book club in the world, that brings our authors into the book club discussion at every meeting. At the end of each year, we host our International Book Club Convention, that we call Girlfriend Weekend; January 13 - 15, 2023, we will have our "Over the Moon" themed event, with our authors and book club members [on] Amelia Island, Florida.
Our motto is "where TIARAS are mandatory and reading our good books is the ONLY RULE"! Our
sole mission is to promote the arts, authors, books, literacy, and reading, and all while showing that reading is the best entertainment in the world. We are not your mama's book club; we make reading Big Time Fun! You have to attend our book club convention, as seeing it is believing it!
La Libertad: Of what accomplishment are you most proud?
Kathy: It's really very simple, connecting readers with authors and authors with readers.
As the kid that always had her nose in a book and her head in the clouds, I dreamed that one day we
could and would live in a better world if we were better educated, enlightened, and yes, entertained by becoming "real" readers. My greatest accomplishment is seeing my first time, first book, undiscovered authors get discovered in a big way, and, at the same time, I have made "book" friendships that are forever. My best friends are my authors and book club members. I have a pretty good record, too, for helping authors climb the bestselling charts and "option" their books for film, television, or streaming
services. Here are a few:
- Rebecca Wells, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (our very first book that I helped get published by HarperCollins)
- Ron Hall, Same Kind of Different as Me
- Regina Louise, Somebody's Someone
- Kathryn Stockett, The Help
- Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love
- Charles Martin, The Mountain Between Us
- Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle
[T]wo authors that broke the million-sold "glass ceiling" [are] Lisa Wingate of Before You Were
Ours and Jamie Ford, (former co-host of my Girlfriend Weekend), of "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter
and Sweet.
And many, many more!
I think all my book club selections should go to the screen, because every book I read visually and select is a remarkable story. It's all about the story!
La Libertad: How did you get the nickname "The Pulpwood Queen"?
Kathy: Living in Jefferson, Texas for nearly twenty-five years, I crowned myself The Pulpwood Queen, as don't all women deserve the crown?
Pulpwood was the industry of the area, fast growing pine, cut in our forests for the local International Paper plant located there. People always laugh when I say I am the Pulpwood Queen, and, actually, was the first woman to win the International Paper Woodlands competition of chainsaw and crosscut saw. My now ex-husband's whole family was in the pulpwood and timber business. AND Pulpwood Queen production is found in every State in the United States and throughout the world. We have never discriminated against anyone who wants to join our book club; membership is free to readers. My ex-husband came up with Timber Guys for the men who joined our book club; most are authors. Then we have husbands who are as big of readers as we are too.
La Libertad: What would you like to tell our readers about your latest novel and its companion
sequels?
Kathy: I have never written a novel - not yet, but I will.
My first book was a memoir, and I was contacted by a publisher to write the story, The Pulpwood
Queen's Tiara Wearing, Book Sharing Guide to Life, originally published by Grand Central Publishing, a memoir of how reading saved me and my life story of promoting reading. The latest edition is now published by me, Kathy L. Murphy, and, after my divorce, my book was "optioned" for a book to film at DreamWorks. The second book was The Pulpwood Queen Celebrates 20 Years, edited by Susan Cushman, an anthology of Pulpwood Queen authors and book club writers to celebrate our twenty years of reading all together. My third book was Work in Progress, edited by Mandy Haynes, another anthology of stories by my authors. I am currently working on The Pulpwood Queen Goes Back to School, which I did both literally and figuratively, too - hopefully being released in 2024.
La Libertad: What inspires you?
Kathy: The story has to be one like the Atticus Finch character, to paraphrase from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, my favorite book, "You need to walk in another man's shoes to understand their story. My inspiration is a story that I have never heard of before - a new perspective. Everything in life is all about being in conversation, telling a story. We are the only animal on the planet that shares our stories; it is what makes us human and more humane. Authors are my heroes, big time.
La Libertad: What are you most looking forward to, at Sundance 2023?
Kathy: Besides reading, I am the biggest film buff in the world. My mother set me on that path as she was a Speech and Drama major in college, and left to seek stardom in Hollywood. It did not happen. The best times of my very dysfunctional family life (read my book) was watching films on our Curtis-Mathes television, or going to the Princess Theater, and [the] Highway 54 Drive-In. My Aunt Mabel Brown ran the ticket booth at both. The biggest night of the year was watching The Academy Awards.
During CoViD, I had a hard time concentrating, so isolated in my cabin that I got lost in films and discovered I thought I had seen everything. I watched all the independent films I [could] and discovered Bollywood, then Tollywood, Pollywood, and beyond. I started with a Book and Film Club
and The Pulpwood Queen SHAH RUKH KHAN Friends and Film Club that has exploded. My book club has members from all over the world and [is] now getting ready to go to India. I have crowned a
Pulpwood Queen of Jaipur, and she is even going to teach me Hindi. It's all about the story, and it continues.
I download all my Zoom meetings with our authors, our film club discussions, and even our book club
convention, and more, on my/The Pulpwood Queen Channel on YouTube.com.
First time ever to Sundance so pretty pumped - another dream of a lifetime to fulfill! No stranger to film festivals as I have been featured at several of them, including winning the Audience Choice Award for my first documentary, For the Love of Books by documentary filmmaker William Torgerson at The International Phenom Film Festival in Shreveport/Bossier City, Louisiana. My book club is currently featured in the documentary, The Bookkeepers by filmmaker Phil Wall, featuring his father, Dick Wall, going on his mother's book tour, as she passed away, from cancer, right before publication of her book, Mister Owita's Guide to Gardening by Carol Wall. AND we are going to have filmmaker Adam Green and film crew cover our up and coming Girlfriend Weekend Book Club Convention for another documentary. As you can see, I am beyond excited about coming to this prestigious Sundance Film Festival.
La Libertad: What are your overall career goals?
Kathy: All my life I have searched for a career that has meaning, and finally found it when I founded my book club. I have a story to tell, and I want others to tell and share their stories,
too, whether book or film. My sole mission in life is to help others discover that a well told story
can help you find exactly where you should be in this world. For me, it's about sharing the stories.
La Libertad: What links would you like to share?
Kathy:
La Libertad: What else, if anything, would you like to tell our readers?
Kathy: I was asked once in an interview by Bob Phillips of "The Texas Country Reporter" television show, that, if I died, how would I want to be remembered.
It made me cry because most people assume I would say something pertaining to promoting literacy and reading. Actually, what I said was even to my own surprise, "I want to be remembered for being a good mother."
I have now two grown daughters that are voracious readers - strong women with big dreams just like
me. Now, I even have a grandson who is my heart of hearts. I come from a dysfunctional family, but one of storytellers. What I want readers to truly know is you can solve any problem you have in the world if you will just read, read, read.
The late great Pat Conroy and his wife, Cassandra King Conroy are my favorite authors' bodies of 
work, and all their family of writers' stories, too. In fact, the Pat Conroy Literary Center is my charity of choice, and why I do a Pulpwood Queen fundraiser for this amazing organization that promotes literacy everyday in Beaufort, South Carolina. Create your mark in this world with your gifts and talents; then take action to make a difference in the world. I will never be rich monetarily; I can still dream. In the meantime I thank God every day that I am blessed with the good fortune of what I do. I am rich in life from knowing all my authors and readers and following my passions. Who could ask for anything more!?
All my life, I really wanted to be an artist and, after a lifetime of supporting myself as a big time reading hairdresser, I completed my life goal after attending seven colleges and universities for [more than] forty-three years. Yes, in my sixties, I became a proud graduate of The University of Texas, in
Tyler, Texas with a B.F.A. [Bachelor of Fine Arts] in Fine Arts, a minor in Art History, Magna Cum Laude, too, no less. I walked the walk and I wear the ring! It's never too late to keep reaching for the stars and working hard for your dreams. It's all about the story!
Art by Kathy L. Murphy
Introduction and editing by William Mortensen Vaughan
