About Cat Warren

I was born in Oregon. I came to North Carolina in the 1990s.

I teach at a university and love it.  And I love watching good dog trainers and good scent dogs work here. I will never adjust to Southern humidity. I’m a Westerner.

I was a newspaper reporter before I became a professor. I covered crime, poverty, the environment, and politics across the U.S. In the late 1980s, I took a break from journalism to teach a university editing class. It fit me. I went back to school to get my doctorate. I taught a variety of creative nonfiction, editing, and science journalism classes at North Carolina State University before I retired in July 2021. Now, I'm researching and writing about historic burial grounds in the U.S., giving talks, and having fun with dogs.

I blame Solo for this book. He didn’t eat my homework. He became my homework when I started training him as a cadaver dog. I am still learning about the world of scent detection dogs.

David, my husband, and I live with a German Shepherd, Rev, and a young Boykin spaniel pup, Brio. We love gardening, cooking, bread baking—and of course, living and working with dogs.

What the Dog Knows and its reimagined Young Readers Edition are my first, but not my last of my nonacademic books. I'm currently working on a novel, which I find incredibly immersive. Of course, it will include scent dectection dogs!