HELLO READERS I'M

KATIE WARD 

My first novel ‘The Pretender’ is a modern-day adaptation of the Mark Twain classic ‘The Prince and the Pauper’.This is another of my childhood favourites but due to its age and style of writing it is a difficult read for most modern readers. For my novel, I took all the main elements of the original story in order to stay faithful to it but then weaved them into a brand new contemporary novel targeted at a YA audience. ‘The Pretender’ has captured the hearts of readers from around the world and not long after its release won a coveted BRAG Medallion Award. In addition to this, its readers have shown their love of the book with their fantastic reviews. It has also featured regularly in the media. In 2020, ‘The Pretender’ will be featured in a cook book being released by BRAG Medallion with a recipe developed by French food writer, The Skinny Chick, to bring the cuisine of the Palace into my reader’s homes.

HELLO READERS

I'M KATIE WARD 

A few months after the initial release of ‘The Pretender’ I donated a box of books, fresh from being printed to a charity called Books 2 Africa who send predominantly used books and reconditioned equipment to schools in Africa. Since ‘The Pretender’ deals with poverty, I felt strongly that I wanted to give something back to children living in poverty. I also signed each individual book so that the children receiving them had the same experience as those I had signed books for at my events. Books 2 Africa then asked me to join them for an interview for their Books to Africa On Air channel.

MY CHARITY 

WORK

As well as writing, I also helped to organise the 2019 Shute Festival of Literature and Landscape where I managed to persuade bestselling author and leading Forensic Scientist Professor Angela Gallop to attend. During the talk, Angela discussed her book which details her involvement in some of the UK’s most high profile murder cases as well as her involvement in a lesser known murder that took place in Shute in 1987.

When I’m not writing, I sing in a community choir which has seen us perform alongside Jazz singer Claire Martin, at the Exeter Rugby fanzone and travelling to France to perform with a choir in Renne. I’m also a member of an Archery club where I enjoy practising my recurve skills. In 2019, I was classified by Archery GB as 14th in the country for Ladies Beginners Indoor Recurve Archery.

I also adhere to the age old writer tradition of having a cat which I adopted from a rescue charity in 2009. She was named Katie by the charity and this is how I discovered her. She is now happy and healthy in her forever home and showered with love from anyone who meets her!

Thank you for taking the time to learn more about me and I hope you enjoy the site.

MY OTHER 

INTERESTS

I lived in Dublin, I entered a short story (that I had originally written when I was 14) into a competition run by National Irish TV Channel RTE via the Seoige and O’Shea show (think the Irish equivalent of Richard and Judy but not married to each other!). They ran a competition called ‘Do the Write Thing’ which was mentored by Irish author Patricia Scanlon. My story, ‘Defying Gravity’ was selected and published in an anthology of the same name which became a top 20 Irish Bestseller. After the success of my short story, I then entered an extract of my novel ‘Red Roses’ (which will be my second published novel) into a competition run by Metro Eireann Newspaper and mentored by MAN Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle. I was delighted to have my entry shortlisted and to have the chance to meet Roddy in person.

MY WRITING 

AWARDS