Hello, I’m Kate Mallinder
I’m a children’s writer. My debut novel for teens, Summer of No Regrets, came out in 2019. It’s feel-good and about friendship and finding your place in the world. My second book, Asking for a Friend, came out in 2020 and is about finding true friendship in the unlikeliest of places.
I also write short stories, flash fiction and short plays, although these tend to be for adults. Several of my short scripts have been made into films.
In 2020 I passed my MA in Writing for Young People at the Bath Spa University with distinction.
These are the covers for Summer of No Regrets and Asking for a Friend and I just LOVE them.
They were designed by Anne Glenn, a designer who has created lots of the stunning covers for Firefly Press.
Cats make the best writing partners
This was my writing buddy when I wrote Summer of No Regrets. His name was Reggie and he was super-grumpy. This is him telling me to stop working and tickle his ears straight away! If you look carefully, he’s sitting on Summer of No Regrets edits.
We now have two kittens called Alan and Dot, and it’s bedlam at our house. They often use my desk as a playground and love playing with my pencil while I’m trying to write!
I made a ‘no regrets’ pledge
I decided that I was going to try living my life with no regrets. I’d already started to do this but I was going to take it further. I wanted to do a few things that I was scared of, or things that made me nervous but I wished didn’t. It started with trying surfing, something I’d assumed I’d be no good at. And I was right BUT I had loads of fun trying and I did get better. One really big thing for me was spiders - I was properly scared of them. But, with a bit of work I finally got to being able to stroke a tarantula, something I NEVER thought I’d do. I was so nervous beforehand, but felt amazing after! Definitely no regrets doing that!
Conquering my fear of heights!
This was actually quite fun!
More heights!
One of the scariest things I’ve ever done, however, is write. And I know that sounds daft - how dangerous can sitting at a laptop actually be?! But learning to be honest with my words, and say what I really feel has taken me a long time to master. If you want to be a writer, or are interested in reading more about my writing journey, there’s a whole blog stuffed full of advice and thoughts. Check it out here: