Katie Grant

Born into a recusant Lancashire family described by Lord Burghley, treasurer to Elizabeth I, as ‘of more than usual perversity’, Katharine (Katie, K.M.) Grant explores divided loyalties and domestic conflict, usually during controversial times in history. With 10 novels published to date, she believes we should face the darkness of the past directly, whether writing for children or adults, and not be afraid to find that darkness darkly funny. Blood Red Horse (Puffin, 2004), set during the Third Crusade, was Booklist top 10 pick and a USBBY-CBC outstanding international book. The sequel Green Jasper was shortlisted for the 2006 Royal Mail Scottish children’s award. In Sedition (Virago, 2014), her first novel for adults, Katharine explores the theme of power, particularly the power of silence and the power of music to disturb, excite and disrupt.

As Katie Grant, she is also a current-affairs commentator. Regular columns in most Scottish broadsheets were her main focus until the books took over. She is still a regular broadcast contributor and writes columns either when asked or when something really gets up her nose. Concerned about the standard of writing exhibited by students soliciting writing-career advice, she set up subject-based online writing skills materials for the University of Glasgow, valuable preparation for becoming an RLF Fellow and contributing to other RLF projects. In a perfect world, she would be a first-class pianist and still have a horse.

Katie Grant’s expertise at helping young people develop their writing skills is forged through her experience as a novelist, journalist and co-creator of the academic writing website at the University of Glasgow. A co-founder of the Bridge, which amongst other things aims to demystify the term ‘academic writing’, she offers not just practical advice but valuable techniques to overcome the writing problems we all face when moving to university, college or the workplace. She was the Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at the University of Glasgow for three years and has run Bridge workshops in schools across the west of Scotland, including Springburn Academy and the Glasgow Academy.