Katharine Quarmby

Katharine Quarmby is an award‑winning and prize-listed writer of fiction, non-fiction, journalism and books for children. Her books and long‑form reporting focus on lives lived on the margins.

Scapegoat: Why We Are Failing Disabled People won the Ability Media International Prize for Literature, while No Place to Call Home was shortlisted for the Bread and Roses Award, a book that dug into the lives of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities. Her journalism currently covers long-term cross-border environmental investigations, as well as a more recent return to work on the care system after winning the Tenacious Journalist Award 2026 for a project looking at the health harms of adoption. Her journalism and fiction work have been supported by grants by bodies including Arts Council England, Journalismfund Europe grants, the IJ4EU programme and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. A recent collaborative environmental investigation was shortlisted for the European Parliament/Daphne Caruana Galizia Award.

Katharine published The Low Road, her debut novel, which explored the lives of women convicts transported to Australia, in 2023. The Low Road was shortlisted for the New Angle Prize for Literature 2025. More recently, the Historical Novel Society shortlisted her forthcoming work in progress, SS Care Home, for its 2026 First Chapters Competition (Historical Crime).

She is also an award‑winning writer for children. Her picture book Ossiri and the Bala Mengro, co‑written with Richard O’Neill, received national and international recognition, including an Aesop Accolade from the American Folklore Society, a Silver IPPY Medal, and shortlistings for the Little Rebels Award and the Hampshire Illustrated Book Award.

Katharine is an Advisory Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund, and has twice served as an RLF Fellow, supporting writers and students in developing confidence, technique and voice. She is also a non-executive director for the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society and serves as chair for its Oversight and Scrutiny Committee.