Katherine Roberts graduated with a First in Mathematics from Bath University and has worked with computers, racehorses, and in a pet shop. Her short stories have appeared in magazines such as Take A Break and in anthologies of horror fiction. Several of them have won awards and prizes. Two of her earliest fantasy stories, "A Gift from the Merlee" and "Death Singer," eventually grew into her prize-winning first novel, Song Quest, which was published in 1999 and won the Branford Boase Award for an outstanding first novel for children.
Katherine Roberts' novels include Spellfall (2000), Crystal Mask (2001), Dark Quetzal (2003), The Great Pyramid Robbery (2001), The Babylon Game (2002), The Amazon Temple Quest (2002), The Mausoleum Murder (2003), The Olympic Conspiracy (2004), and The Colossus Crisis (2005). The Cleopatra Curse (2006) and I am the Great Horse (2006) are her most recent novels.
When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?
You don't decide to be a writer. Either you are or you aren't. I take "writer" to mean "story teller", a person born with a vivid imagination. Writing, telling or singing stories will be part of their life, whether or not they make any money from doing it. The non-writer, on the other hand, will often be at a loss for something to write and find writing hard work. They might manage to write a successful book but they will only be doing it for money (or some other outside purpose), not for the pure joy of telling the story.
Who would you say has influenced you the most?
Almost all the writers I read, especially the ones I read as a child. Childhood favourites include Anne McCaffrey, Ursula Le Guin, and just about anyone who wrote pony books. I still enjoy the fantasy writers and often re-read old favourites for comfort, though I think I've grown out of pony books - an exception would be Blind Beauty by K. M. Peyton.
As an adult, I do not have favourite authors. I like to read a wide variety of genres and am attracted more to story than a writer's name. I often discover brilliant books in charity shops several years after they have gone out of print.
What are your main concerns as a writer?
The gulf between the public perception of authors (that we're all millionaires with glamorous lifestyles) and the more mundane reality - it can be embarrassing when you get begging letters from charities and schools, etc.
How have your personal experiences influenced the direction of your writing?
I think it's too early to tell, though everything filters through eventually.
What would you say are the biggest challenges that you face?
Getting my books supported by book-selling chains. The chains are reducing their range of books in favour of greater quantities of titles they know they can sell, such as biographies of famous football stars or fashionable authors. This means that a lot of published books simply do not get into the chain shops at all. Since Waterstones took over Ottakars (in the UK) at the end of this year, the choice has become even narrower.
Article comments
1 - Natalie Bennett
This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net, which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States. Nice work!