Katherine Marsh: My name is Katherine Marsh. On the surface of it, my name doesn't tell you that much about my background and where I've come from, and that's kind of purposeful. My mother's family were from Belarus and Ukraine in the former Russian empire. My mother purposely gave me an American sounding name, Katherine, because she wanted me to fit in and not be seen as being different. My father's family are Jewish. They are from Eastern Europe, and the name Marsh was probably a name that was given at Ellis Island when they came through.

Three out of my four grandparents were immigrants to this country. So it doesn't totally reflect their heritage either. When I was a little girl, I was called Katya by my family, which is the Russian nickname for Katherine or Yekaterina. But when I was five years old, I started kindergarten, and I had a teacher who did not like the name Katya. She said, "She needs an American name," so people started calling me Kate. And I publish now as Katherine Marsh. So that is the story of my name.