Katya Balen author page

Katya Balen biography

Katya Balen is a British author of children’s literature, born in London in 1989. She studied English at both Oxford and Cambridge universities, completing a Master’s thesis on the impact of stories on the behaviour of autistic children. Before becoming a full-time writer, she worked in special schools and social care, and co-founded Mainspring Arts, a charity providing creative opportunities for neurodivergent people.

Balen’s debut novel, The Space We’re In (2019), was highly commended for the Branford Boase Award and longlisted for the Carnegie Medal. Her second novel, October, October (2020), won the Yoto Carnegie Medal in 2022 and was highly commended for the Wainwright Prize for Children’s Writing on Nature and Conservation. The Light in Everything (2022) was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and won the UKLA Book Award in the 7–10+ category.

She has also written several novellas for Barrington Stoke, including Birdsong (2022), Nightjar (2023), and Little House (2024). Her recent works include Foxlight (2023) and Ghostlines (2024), both published by Bloomsbury. Balen is also the author of The Thames and Tide Club series, with titles such as The Secret City (2023) and Squid Invasion (2024), and has collaborated with illustrator Gill Smith on The Appletree Animal Agency series.

• Author website and school visit details

Katya Balen teaching resources

• Katya Balen’s official resources page links to teaching resources for The Light in Everything, October, October and The Space We’re In, plus a downloadable poster PDF for classrooms and libraries.
• Katya Balen’s official school visits page gives details of UK Years 3-7 author visits, including large-group interactive talks, smaller creative-writing workshops, sensory imagery, writing from new perspectives, story-building and DBS information.
• Bloomsbury’s October, October educational resource pack is a 12-page KS2 PDF with book extracts, reflection questions and activities on wild places, names, sensory overload, city life, stories, Literacy, Art and Design, RSHE, Citizenship, Geography and Drama.
• Bloomsbury’s The Light in Everything educational resource pack is a 14-page PDF for age 9+ with reading-group questions, theme activities on fear, family, belonging and anger, creative-writing tasks, origami work, PSHE, speaking and listening, Art, Design and Technology.
• Bloomsbury’s The Thames and Tide Club educational resource pack is a 26-page PDF for age 7+ with four lesson plans, extracts, discussion questions, activity sheets, mudlarking activities, River Thames geography, fantasy-story writing, Art and Design, PSHE and curriculum objectives.
• Bloomsbury and CLPE’s Maggie and the Moonbird teaching notes provide a 14-page Dark Blue Book Band guided-reading PDF with five chapter-session plans covering prediction, close reading, clarification, sequencing, summarising, visualising, Role on the Wall, hot-seating, diary writing and vocabulary work.