Kate Thompson (author)

Kate Thompson is an award-winning writer for children and adults. Born in Halifax, Yorkshire in 1956, she has lived in Ireland, where many of her books are set, since 1981. She is the youngest child of the social historians and peace activists E. P. Thompson and Dorothy Towers. She worked with horses and travelled in India before settling in the west of Ireland with her partner Conor. They have two daughters, Cliodhna and Dearbhla. She is an accomplished fiddler with an interest in Irish traditional music, reflected in "The New Policeman".

While Kate Thompson's children's fiction is primarily fantasy, several of her books also deal with the consequences of genetic engineering.

She has won the Bisto Children's Book of the Year Award four times, for "The Beguilers", "The Alchemist's Apprentice", "Annan Water" and "The New Policeman". "The New Policeman" was also awarded the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, the Whitbread Children's Book Award and the Dublin Airport Authority Children's Book of the Year Award for 2005.

Bibliography

Adult fiction
*"Down Among the Gods" (1998)
*"Thin Air" (1999)
*"An Act of Worship" (2000)

Children's fiction
*The " Switchers" trilogy:"Switchers" (1997):" Midnight's Choice" (1998):"Wild Blood" (1999)
*The "Missing Link" or "Fourth World" trilogy:"The Missing Link" (2000):"Only Human" (2001):"Origins" (2002)
*"The Beguilers" (2001)
*"The Alchemist's Apprentice" (2002)
*"Annan Water" (2004)
*"The New Policeman" (2005)
*"The Fourth Horseman" (2006)
*"The Last of the High Kings" (2007) a sequel to "The New Policeman"
*"Creature of the Night" (2008)

Illustrated books
*"Highway Robbery" (forthcoming)

External links

* [http://www.katethompson.info/ Official website]
* [http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/childrenandteens/story/0,,1582191,00.html Interview with Kate Thompson, 2005]
* [http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/childrenandteens/story/0,,1693218,00.html Guardian Author of the Month interview, 2006]
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