Katherine grew up in the Yorkshire Dales, and can’t remember a time when she wasn’t writing stories, she loved reading, too, and when she was ten her favourite books were the seven Narnia stories by C.S. Lewis.

When she’d finished them Katherine was desperate to read more – so she got an old blue notebook and started writing her own Narnia book!

Katherine thinks this was the moment she decided she wanted to be an author when she grew up.

When Katherine was thirteen she wrote some short stories about magic, called ‘Mixed Magic’. Her father typed them for her (it was long before word processors and computers) and sent them to an agent, who wrote back that, though they weren’t good enough to published, she should keep writing.

She did!

Now her favourite books are fantasies by Alan Garner, Ursula le Guin and JRR Tolkien; and historical novels by Rosemary Sutcliff and Henry Treece. (Perhaps that’s why, so far, all her books have been fantasies set in the past…)

I studied English at university, got a job, got married, had children and went to live in France and then in America. During this time I was almost too busy to write – so I began visiting libraries and schools, telling stories aloud. This turned out to be excellent practice for being an author! At last I moved back to England and began writing the stories that turned into the Troll Trilogy, ‘Troll Fell‘, ‘Troll Mill‘ – and ‘Troll Blood‘ (HarperCollins) which was recommended in the ‘Top 160 Books for Boys’ compiled by the School Library Association. So far ‘Troll Fell‘ has been published in nine languages. My latest book is ‘Dark Angels’ (HarperCollins, May 2009).

Luckily, writing’s not all about sitting at home in front of a computer. The background research for my books can be very exciting. I’ve visited wolves, crawled down mines, clambered over old castles – and to find out about Viking ships for ‘Troll Blood’ I went to Denmark and spent a week sailing on a reconstructed Viking Age ship on a Danish fjord. It was the best holiday ever! [Click on the picture of the Viking ship to see more photos.]

Would your children like stories involving Trolls, Vikings, Mermaids or Runaway Boys?

Then have them take a break to read the following stories:

‘Troll Fell’, ‘Troll Mill’ & ‘Troll Blood’ about a boy named Peer and his adventures in a Viking Village, in an old mill called Troll Mill, near a hill called Troll Fell….
‘Dark Angels’ & ‘Shadow Hunt’ about a boy called Wolf who is on the run from the oppressive monastery where he was raised.
‘Forsaken’ A mermaid story – not pink and not sparkly!

For YA’s, Katherine has a short story included in ‘After: Nineteen Stories of Apocalypse and Dystopia’ by various authors.

Visit her website for more details by clicking HERE.