Katia was born in the Black Sea town of Odesa, moving to Melbourne, Australia, at the age of ten. She holds an Arts/Law degree from Monash University and a Graduate Diploma of Publishing and Editing from RMIT. Katia was a managing editor with Five Islands Press from 2011 to 2019.

Over the past twenty years Katia has edited for Murdoch Books, Dorling Kindersley, Melbourne University Publishing, Wild Dingo Press, Ventura Press, Gazebo Books, Cambridge University Press, Affirm Press, Transit Lounge, Ginninderra Press, Echo Books and Hardie Grant. In her work for private clients, Katia specialises in manuscript appraisal and structural editing, especially memoir, poetry and literary fiction.

Katia is also an author and was the recipient of the Eleanor Dark Residential Fellowship at Varuna in 2022 and the Bundanon Artists’ Residency in 2024. Her memoir, The Swift Dark Tide, was shortlisted for the Stella Prize in 2024 and was awarded Best Non-Fiction Prize by the NSW Society of Women Writers. Her second book, Ferryman: The Life and Deathwork of Ephraim Finch was published in 2025. Her writing appears in Archer Magazine, Womankind, The Guardian and Antithesis Journal. She has taught in the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne and delivers creative writing workshops throughout Australia.