Katherine Roberts

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Katherine Roberts

Born February 12, 1962 (1962-02-12) (age 46)
Torquay, Devon, England
Occupation Novelist
Genres Fantasy
Official website

Katherine Roberts (born February 12, 1962) is an English author, best known for her fantasy trilogy The Echorium Sequence. She was born in Torquay, England and spent most of her childhood in Devon and Cornwall, England. She is the daughter of Derek Robert (an electrical engineer) and Dorothy Margaret (a teacher).

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Katherine Roberts spent most of her childhood in Devon and Cornwall where she was born [1]. She first entered education at an infant school in Redruth (Cornwall), later on joining the Oldway County Primary School in Paignton (Devon) and then moving onto Torquay Girls' Grammar School (also in Devon). She graduated with a first degree in Mathematics from Bath University. Following on from that, she has had numerous jobs associated with programming computers, looking after racehorses and a job in a pet shop.

[edit] Writing career

In 1999, her first book Song Quest was published, winning the Branford Boase Award for children. She later published Crystal Mask (2001) and Dark Quetzal (2003) which were both in the same series.

In 2001, she published the first novel in the The Seven Fabulous Wonders series called The Great Pyramid Robbery, which the Sunday Express said was "A terrific tale of plots, curses and evil forces set in ancient Egypt" [2]. This was followed on with The Babylon Game in 2002, which was said to be "Incredible... adventures that twist and turn and will have you spellbound on every page," by the Children's Book of the Week, South Wales Evening Post [3]. The same year, the third book in the series, The Amazon Temple Quest, was published, and in 2003, The Mausoleum Murder was also published. Following on from this, in 2004 and 2005, The Olympic Conspiracy and The Colossus Crisis were also published within the series. Recently, Katherine Roberts has also published The Cleopatra Curse, bringing the series to a total of seven books.

Katherine Roberts has also produced other books such as Spellfall, which The Sunday Times Children's Book of the Week said, "this magical and fantastical story from Roberts has lessons for real children about taking responsibility." [4], Spell Wars (2000), and I am the Great Horse (2006).

She mainly writes within the fantasy genre, and she is currently encouraging local schools to interest children in creative writing.

[edit] Marriage and children

In 2005, she separated with her husband and now lives in Stroud, Gloucestershire. She moved to an old union workhouse where she says she is now even more compelled to "work hard" and "wake up early in the morning" [1]. She has had no children [5].

[edit] Author comments

She has commented on her website that;

“ I've always loved telling stories! My first stories weren't even written down they were told to my little brother at bedtime. He was 4 and I was 7. Later, my parents bought me a typewriter (no computers in those days!) so I used that to make my stories look neat. But I didn't dare send anything off to a publisher until I was about 30 - and then it took me another 7 years to get my first book published.[5] ”

Her FAQ on her website also states that she does no research for some books mostly genre specific books only and she states that her average book takes 6 months to write. She comments that it takes several drafts of the books she writes to make sense as that is the way she works. She dislikes having a planned out plot and believes part of the fun of writing is feeling your way through the story [5].

[edit] Bibliography

Katherine Roberts has written a range of books, mostly belonging to The Echorium Sequence and The Seven Fabulous Wonders series. She has also wrote several short stories.

[edit] The Echorium Sequence

[edit] The Seven Fabulous Wonders

[edit] Other books

[edit] Awards

  • Raconteur Award (1995) - Across the Water
  • Story Cellar Award (1994) - Mars Take Seed Make Man
  • Grotesque Readers Award (1996) - Fatstock
  • Broadsword Fiction of the Year Award (1996) - Under the Eyemoon

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b Katherine Roberts' biography at [1]
  2. ^ Quotes on The Great Pyramid Robbery [2]
  3. ^ Quotes on The Babylon Game [3]
  4. ^ Quotes on Spellfall [4]
  5. ^ a b c Katherine Roberts' FAQ [5]

[edit] External links