Kathryn Cave author page

Kathryn Cave biography

Kathryn Cave (1948–2021) was a British children’s author who wrote picture books, fiction and nonfiction for young readers. Before becoming a published author, she worked in publishing, including editorial roles at Penguin, Basil Blackwell and Frances Lincoln. Her first children’s novel, Dragonrise, was published by Puffin in 1984. She subsequently wrote more than twenty books for children, including Many Happy Returns, William and the Wolves and The Emperor’s Gruckle Hound.

Her picture book Something Else, illustrated by Chris Riddell and first published by Viking in 1994, follows a small creature who is excluded by others because he looks and behaves differently. When another unusual creature approaches him seeking friendship, Something Else must reconsider his own attitudes towards difference. The book won the inaugural UNESCO Prize for Children’s and Young People’s Literature in the Service of Tolerance in 1997, in the under-eights category. It was also shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal and the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize. The story was subsequently adapted into an animated television series by TV-Loonland and a stage production by Tall Stories.

Cave collaborated with several illustrators on her picture books. Her titles with Chris Riddell include Out for the Count and Horatio Happened. She worked with Nick Maland on You’ve Got Dragons, a story about a child learning to cope with fears and worries, and The Brave Little Grork. Maland’s illustrations for You’ve Got Dragons won the overall prize at the V&A Illustration Awards in 2003.

Her nonfiction titles include W Is for World: A Round-the-world ABC, published by Frances Lincoln Children’s Books and featuring photographs supplied by Oxfam. The alphabet book introduces children to everyday life in countries around the world.

One of Cave’s later picture books, Troll Wood, was illustrated by Paul Hess and published by Frances Lincoln Children’s Books in 2013. It follows a family searching for a new home who discover unexpected possibilities in a mysterious woodland.