Kathryn Cave

As the youngest of four children, Kathryn Cave spent her early years being wilfully misunderstood and ignored by her brother and sisters. As a result she developed a tendency to whine and a crew of imaginary friends - wolves, dragons, aardvarks, trolls - who did exactly what she wanted and were a great improvement on reality. She has them still - they often scratch on her door at night. After university, Kathryn worked in publishing for many years. Philippa Dickinson, then at the beginning of her publishing career, plucked her first book, DRAGONRISE, out of the Puffin slush pile and published it in 1984. Since then she has written twenty-plus stories for children of all ages, from non-fiction to picture books to stories for 9-11s.

SOMETHING ELSE, illustrated by Chris Riddell, was shortlisted for both the Kate Greenaway Medal and the Smarties Prize in 1994 and won the first UNESCO Prize for children’s literature in the service of tolerance (under-8 category) in 1997. It is now the basis of an animated series for children’s television (TV Loonland), and a children’s theatre production (Tall Stories).

Recent picturebooks include FRIENDS, THE BRAVE LITTLE GRORK, and YOU’VE GOT DRAGONS.

scottish sunday herald
Friends tugs at your heartstrings from the outset.

scottish sunday herald
Books like this remind us that there's so much more to them than simply the business of reading