Kathy Brandt is the co-author with son, Max Maddox, of Walks on the Margins: A Story of Bipolar Illness, has published four mysteries in the Hannah Sampson Underwater Investigation Series, and taught writing at the University of Colorado for ten years. She is a vocal advocate for those with mental illness and writes and speaks about mental health. She is past President the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Colorado Springs and in 2012 she received the NAMI National Award for her leadership and service on behalf of those living with mental illness. She has a B.A. in English and an M.A. in Rhetoric. She lived in Colorado Springs for twenty-five years before moving to Woodland Park.