About

Katie Rose Pryal, JD, PhD

I tell stories about the outsiders, the misfits, and the beautifully complicated.

I am a Bipolar-AuDHD author and educator, writing essays, memoir, novels, and nonfiction about neurodiversity, mental health, bodily autonomy, and more.

My recent book, YOUR KID BELONGS HERE: An Insider’s Guide to Parenting Neurodiverse Children (Johns Hopkins 2025), shows how the world systematically excludes neurodivergent kids (and adults) from everyday life, and how we can fix it. Dr. Temple Grandin hailed it as “essential reading for parents, teachers, and professionals.” My follow-up, NEURODIVERGENT & EXPECTING: An Insider’s Guide to Planning, Pregnancy, and Post-Partum (Johns Hopkins 2027), does the same for parents-to-be.

My literary memoir, AN AUTISTIC GIRL’S GUIDE TO HORSES (West Virginia 2027), shares intimate insights into the life of an autistic woman who spent most of her life undiagnosed and unsupported, affirming the experiences of autistic adults everywhere. And A LIGHT IN THE TOWER: A New Reckoning with Mental Health in Higher Education (Kansas 2024) gives an insider view into the mental health crisis in higher education and how we can make education more human for students and faculty.

My novels include the IPPY-Gold-winning Hollywood Lights Series, a contemporary romance series set in Los Angeles featuring neurodivergent characters, and the forthcoming Demonkin Trilogy, contemporary paranormal romance featuring a smartass main character with C-PTSD.

My work has been featured in Catapult, The Establishment, Psychology Today, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Slate, NPR, and more. My writing has received multiple accolades, including IPPY Gold and Bronze Medals for books and a Pushcart Prize nomination for essay writing.

I earned my master’s degree in creative writing from the Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars and hold a doctorate in rhetoric and a law degree from the University of North Carolina, which means that I like to study how different forces shape society, and then I like to write about it. I am currently faculty in the MFA in creative writing program at Drexel University.

I live in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with my neurodivergent family and our many rescue pets. In my free time, I’m an avid equestrian, competing in dressage and showjumping. I might also spend some time watching motorsports.

My first name is Katie Rose, and my last name is Pryal (which rhymes with “trial”). My pronouns are she/her.

If you would like more detail about my education and publications, download my CV. 

Awards and Recognition

• YOUR KID BELONGS HERE was a 2025 finalist for the Foreword INDIES Award in family & relationships. 
• A LIGHT IN THE TOWER won the 2024 IPPY Bronze Medal in Education. (An IPPY is an Independent Publisher Book Award for small press titles.)
• TAKE YOUR CHARMING SOMEWHERE ELSE won the 2022 IPPY Gold Medal in Romance.
• “The Holes We Live With,” essay in FULL GROWN PEOPLE, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in December 2021.
• EVEN IF YOU’RE BROKEN selected by RAINN as a featured title on their book list to learn about sexual violence, October 2021.
• LIFE OF THE MIND INTERRUPTED and THE FREELANCE ACADEMIC were named to THE PROFESSOR IS IN Top 12 Books About Academia in 2021.
• THE FREELANCE ACADEMIC was named Recommended Reading about Higher Ed by FROM PHD TO LIFE in 2021.
• EVEN IF YOU’RE BROKEN won the 2020 IPPY Gold Medal for women’s issues.
• THE FREELANCE ACADEMIC won the 2019 Foreword GOLD INDIES Award for careers.
• LIFE OF THE MIND INTERRUPTED was selected by BOOKRIOT one of the Top 5 Books to Help You Understand Higher Education in 2019.
• “The World Doesn’t Bend for Disabled Kids (or Disabled Parents),” essay in CATAPULT Magazine, was the Most-Read Article in the magazine of 2018.
• FALLOUT GIRL was selected by CHAPEL HILL MAGAZINE as one of its Top 5 Books From Local Authors to Take to the Beach in 2018.
• “With New Life Comes a Fear of Death,” essay in MOTHERWELL Magazine, was named one of the Top-10 Most Popular Articles in the magazine of 2017.