I’m Katya - I’m a children’s writer from London, England. I live with my partner and our two dogs - Raffi is a very old lurcher and Mouse is a little whippet. Before I was a writer I worked in special schools and for social care, as well as running a small charity that put on creative workshops for neurodivergent people.

I love writing stories about bold, brave, wild children who connect with nature and with each other. I find inspiration in landscapes - that’s always where my books begin to grow and develop. I start with a place and everything follows from there.

My favourite sort of books are the ones you’re still thinking about weeks or months or year later. I love beautiful writing that feels like poetry, but I also love thrillers and crime books too.

I love walking around new places and familiar streets, baking wonky-looking cakes, crocheting wonky-looking scarves, and mudlarking on the banks of the Thames.