| Birth Date: | 14 January 1921 |
| Birth Place: | Lowry City, Missouri |
| Language: | English |
| Nationality: | American |
| Alma Mater: | University of Nebraska-Lincoln |
| Period: | 1979–1986 |
| Genres: | --> |
| Subjects: | --> |
| Spouses: | --> |
| Partners: | --> |
Catherine Arthelia Kidwell (January 14, 1921 – February 17, 2002) was an American novelist who began her career in writing late in her life, and was best known for her semi-autobiographical novel Dear Stranger.
Born in Lowry City, Missouri,[1] Kidwell enrolled at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1969, together with her daughter Jane. She culminated her studies with a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1977 at the age of 56. Her thesis, The Woman I Am, was published as a Dell paperback. Kidwell then developed the story further and turned it into the novel Dear Stranger,[2] which Warner Books published in February 1983[3] and was chosen as a Literary Guild selection.[2]
She continued to write and to teach writing at Southeast Community College in Lincoln; she died at the age of 81, after a struggle with Parkinson's disease.[1]