Katya Cengel

Cengel was born in Oakland, California. In 1998, she earned a bachelor's degree in Literature Writing from UC San Diego.

In 1998, Cengel was working as a features writer for The Baltic Times newspaper in Riga, Latvia.[1] Later, Cengel was a general assignment reporter for the Kyiv Post.[2] She also reported regularly for the San Francisco Chronicle[3] and BBC World Service.[4] Cengel described her Central European life and work in her 2019 book From Chernobyl With Love: Reporting from the Ruins of the Soviet Union for which she won the IPPY[5] and Foreword INDIE awards.[6]

Returning to the United States, Cengel joined the Louisville Courier-Journal as a general assignment features reporter.[7] Her series on the families of the Lost Boys of Sudan received second place feature writing from the Society of Professional Journalists 2005 Green Eyeshade Award.[8]

Cengel teaches journalism at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo[9] and UC Berkeley Extension.

• Bluegrass Baseball: A Year In The Minor League Life (2012) Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. Review[10]
• Exiled: From the Killing Fields of Cambodia to California and Back (2018) Lincoln, Nebraska: Potomac Books, An imprint of the University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 9781640120341 Review[11]
• From Chernobyl With Love: Reporting from the Ruins of the Soviet Union (2019). Lincoln, Nebraska: Potomac Books, An imprint of the University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 9781640122048 Review[12]