Katrina Byrd, writer and playwright living in Jackson, MS, received her MFA in Creative Writing from Mississippi University for Women. Her plays have appeared at Bay St Louis Little Theater, Vicksburg Theater Guild and Fondren Theater Workshop. Byrd’s fiction and nonfiction has appeared in literary magazines including Black Magnolias, Herstry and Jane Friedman’s the Business of Writing.  Byrd is a six time Arts Commission grant recipient. 

Diagnosed with ALS November 18, 2019, Dora, Byrd’s partner of 23 years, passed away only 76 days later on February 2, 2020. With no legal ties to one another, no money and no family support, they navigated this 100% fatal disease with Byrd as Dora’s only caregiver. Four weeks after Dora’s death, Byrd’s ALS advocacy work began. Over the past seven years, Byrd has advocated nationally and internationally for ALS cures and treatments. She  has shared her story on stage and on page; She has represented posters at the International ALS/MND Symposium; She led teams at I AM ALS and at Les Turner ALS Foundation and she provided one on one support for people living with ALS, people caring for people living with ALS and for people who have lost people to ALS. 

 After caring for and ultimately losing her long term partner to ALS, Byrd used her writing skills in her ALS advocacy in the rare disease space. In 2024, the EveryLife Foundation located in Washington, DC presented Byrd with the Artist to Advocate award. Byrd started a writing coaching business, Daily Flounce, where she provides one on one writing coaching, virtual writing workshops and she is the author of the Daily Flounce Substack.