Katie Schuermann

Author Bio:

Author Katie Schuermann is “a first-class storyteller” (MacKenzie, 2023) whose “earthy and joyful” (Miller, 2014) voice is as refreshing and invigorating as the Midwestern sunshine in which she was raised. Writing in vignettes which so perfectly suit the charm of small-town life, Schuermann’s words call to mind the warmth and realism of Montgomery’s Avonlea and Berry’s Port William.

Schuermann’s latest standalone novel, The Saints of Whistle Grove (KP, 2023), tells the story of the life and death of a church told through the lives and deaths of the people buried in its cemetery. Her beloved, acclaimed Anthems of Zion fiction series, including House of Living Stones (CPH, 2014), The Choir Immortal (CPH, 2015), and The Harvest Raise (CPH, 2017), tells the story of Emily Duke, a choir director from the big city who moves to a small town in Illinois to direct the local church choir. Her nonfiction books, He Remembers the Barren (LL 2011; 2nd ed., EP 2017), Pew Sisters (CPH, 2013), and He Restores My Soul (EP, 2018), address the topic of suffering and the theology of the cross for the benefit of her sisters in Christ.

When not writing, Schuermann can be found singing, gardening, cooking, holding babies, or trying to climb the nearest tree.

The Saints of Whistle Grove

After 150 years of preaching the Gospel, the little country parish of Whistle Grove has closed its doors for good, but the faithful Rev. Edmund G. Oglethorpe remains. There is the empty building and the crumbling cemetery to maintain, and who else will bury old Miriam Werth when the time comes? Told…

The Harvest Raise

Book #3 in the Anthems of Zion series: It's summer break in Bradbury, and that means cookouts, cornfields, and county fairs! But at Zion Lutheran Church, the changes and chances of life don't take a vacation. Pastor Fletcher must learn to share the parsonage bathroom. Mrs. Scheinberg must face the fact…

The Choir Immortal

Book #2 in the Anthems of Zion Series: The people of Zion are at it again. Two of their very own are getting married, and everyone is pleased as punch to be hosting Bradbury's wedding of the century. Their collective joy is short lived, however, as busted air-conditioners, melting cakes, and a trip…

House of Living Stones

Book #1 in the Anthems of Zion series: In the small Illinois town of Bradbury, change doesn't come often, and it certainly doesn't come easily. So when Pastor Fletcher hires Emily Duke as the new choir director at Zion Lutheran Church, he unknowingly sets in motion a chain of events that turns the life…