Elizabeth Kay (born 9 July 1949 in London) is an English writer. She is the author of The Divide trilogy, a series of children's fantasy novels, originally published by Chicken House Press, then picked up by

Scholastic Books Scholastic Corporation is an American multinational publishing, education, and media company that publishes and distributes books, comics, and educational materials for schools, teachers, parents, children, and other educational institutions. P ...

Biography

Before going to art school she attended Nonsuch High School for girls in Cheam. Then went to art school and in her mid-twenties started writing radio plays, which were broadcast on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

. She also wrote stories which were published in newspapers and magazines and broadcast on

Capital Radio Capital London is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Global Media & Entertainment as part of its national Capital (radio network), Capital Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Bri ...

in London. Kay has an MA in creative writing from

Bath Spa University Bath Spa University is a public university in Bath, Somerset, Bath, England, with its main campus at Newton Park, about west of the centre of the city. The university has other campuses in the city of Bath, and one at Corsham Court in Wiltshi ...

, and has taught both creative writing and art for a number of years. She has illustrated several books and produced nearly all the artwork for her own website. She has won several awards, including the Cardiff International Poetry Competition for a

sestina A sestina (, from ''sesto'', sixth; Old Occitan: ''cledisat'' ; also known as ''sestine'', ''sextine'', ''sextain'') is a fixed verse, fixed verse form consisting of six stanzas of six lines each, normally followed by a three-line envoi. The wor ...

"''Pond Life''" and the Canongate Prize for her short story "''Cassie''". A chapbook of poetry, ''The Spirit Collection'', was published in 2000. ''The Divide'', her first book for children, was published in 2003. She was a keynote speaker at Accio 2005, the ''

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven Fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

'' conference, and spoke at a children's book conference in Ukraine in 2007. She has appeared at other literary events, including the Cheltenham and

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

festivals. She has had three shorter books for children published by Barrington Stoke. ''Fury'', in 2008, ''Hunted'' in 2009 and ''Lost in the Desert'' in 2011. ''The Tree Devil'', for reluctant readers, was published in 2010 by Eprint. A novella for adults, ''Missing Link'', was published in October 2009. She self-published a novella for adults on the Kindle and iPad in 2012, ''Beware of Men with Moustaches'', which was shortlisted for the Dundee International Book Prize. Her latest book is ''Ice Feathers'', a children's novel set in prehistoric Antarctica. She has two adult daughters.

References

External links

Elizabeth Kay's website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kay, Elizabeth 1949 births Living people British fantasy writers British children's writers Alumni of Bath Spa University People educated at Nonsuch High School