Katharine Mary Saunders (4 May 1960 – 21 April 2023) was an English writer, actress and journalist. She won the

Betty Trask Award The Betty Trask Prize and Awards are for first novels written by authors under the age of 35 who reside in a current or former Commonwealth nation. Each year the awards total at least , with normally one author receiving a larger prize amount ( ...

and the Costa Children's Book Award and was twice shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal.

Early life and education

Katharine Mary Saunders was born on 4 May 1960 to an Anglo Catholic family in London, the eldest of six children. Her father was public relations advocate Basil Saunders, and her mother was journalist Betty (née Smith) Saunders. She was educated at the

Camden School for Girls The Camden School for Girls (CSG) is a comprehensive secondary school for girls, with a co-educational sixth form, in the London Borough of Camden in north London. It has about one thousand students of ages eleven to eighteen, and specialis ...

Career

Television

Saunders worked as an actress through her twenties. Her work included an appearance as a policewoman dated by

Rodney Trotter Rodney Charlton Trotter (also known as Dave by Trigger) is a fictional character in the long running BBC sitcom ''Only Fools and Horses'', played by Nicholas Lyndhurst. Biography Rodney Charlton Trotter was born on 2 November 1960 to Joan Trott ...

in an ''

Only Fools and Horses ''Only Fools and Horses'' (titled onscreen as ''Only Fools and Horses....'') is a British television sitcom that was created and written by John Sullivan (writer), John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Ki ...

'' episode in 1982. She was also a regular contributor to radio and television, with appearances on the '' Radio 4'' programmes ''

Woman's Hour ''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946. History The first BBC programme for women was the programme cal ...

'', '' Start the Week'' and ''

Kaleidoscope A kaleidoscope () is an optical instrument with two or more reflecting surfaces (or mirrors) tilted to each other at an angle, so that one or more (parts of) objects on one end of these mirrors are shown as a symmetrical pattern when viewed fro ...

''. She was, with

Sandi Toksvig Sandra Birgitte Toksvig (; ; born 3 May 1958) is a Danish-British broadcaster, comedian, presenter and writer on British radio, stage and television. She is also a political activist, having co-founded the Women's Equality Party in 2015. She ha ...

, a guest on the first episode of the long-running news quiz programme ''

Have I Got News for You ''Have I Got News for You'' (''HIGNFY'') is a British television panel show, produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC, which premiered on 28 September 1990. The programme focuses on two teams, one usually captained by Ian Hislop and one ...

''. The BBC children's series '' Belfry Witches'' was based on her series of children's books about two mischief-making witches.

Writing

Saunders wrote for newspapers and magazines in the UK, including ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'', ''

Sunday Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet ...

'', ''

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

'', ''

She She or S.H.E. may refer to: Language * She (pronoun), the third person singular, feminine, nominative case pronoun in modern English Places * She County, Anhui ** She Prefecture, 589-1121 * She County, Hebei * She River, or Sheshui, Hubei * ...

'' and ''

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...

''. She wrote many novels, such as ''Wild Young Bohemians'', and also co-wrote ''Catholics and Sex'' (1992) with

Peter Stanford Peter James Stanford (born 23 November 1961) is an English writer, editor, journalist and presenter, known for his biographies and writings on religion and ethics. His biography of Lord Longford was the basis for the 2006 BAFTA-winning film '' ...

, who was then editor of the ''

Catholic Herald The ''Catholic Herald'' is a London-based Roman Catholic monthly magazine, founded in 1888 and a sister organisation to the non-profit Catholic Herald Institute, based in New York. After 126 years as a weekly newspaper, it became a magazine ...

.'' Saunders and Stanford later presented a television series based on the book on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

. Saunders won the annual Costa Children's Book Award for ''Five Children on the Western Front'' (2014), a contribution to the classic fantasy series that E. Nesbit inaugurated in 1902 with ''

Five Children and It ''Five Children and It'' is a fantasy children's novel by English people, English author E. Nesbit. It was originally published in 1902 in the ''Strand Magazine'' under the general title ''The Psammead, or the Gifts'', with a segment appearing ...

''. She was also a contributor to the authorised

Winnie-the-Pooh Winnie-the-Pooh (also known as Edward Bear, Pooh Bear or simply Pooh) is a fictional Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. Winnie-the-Pooh first appeared by ...

sequel, ''

The Best Bear in All the World ''Winnie-the-Pooh: The Best Bear in All the World'' is the second authorised sequel to A. A. Milne's original ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' stories. It was published on 6 October 2016 to mark the 90th anniversary of the publication of the first ''Winnie- ...

''. Her children's novel ''The Land of Neverendings'' has been shortlisted for the 2019 Carnegie Medal, as was ''Five Children on the Western Front'' in 2016.

Personal life and death

Saunders married Philip Wells in 1985; they had a son and later divorced. Their son died by suicide when he was 19 years old. Saunders had

multiple sclerosis Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease resulting in damage to myelinthe insulating covers of nerve cellsin the brain and spinal cord. As a demyelinating disease, MS disrupts the nervous system's ability to Action potential, transmit ...

. Her health declined in the years after her son's death, but she continued to write until the end of her life. She died from cancer at her home in

Archway, London Archway is an List of areas of London, area of north London, England, in the London Borough of Islington north of Charing Cross. It straddles the A1 in London, A1 and is named after a former local landmark, the high, single-arched A1 in Londo ...

, on 21 April 2023, at the age of 62.

Selected books

Novels

*''The Prodigal Father'' (1986) - Won The

in 1986 *''Storm in the Citadel'' (1989) *''Night Shall Overtake Us'' (1993) *''Wild Young Bohemians'' (1995) *''Lily-Josephine'' (1998) *''The Marrying Game'' (2002) *''Bachelor Boys'' (2004) *''Crooked Castle'' (2013) *''Mariana'' (2013)

The Laetitia Rodd Mysteries

*''The Secrets of Wishtide'' (2016) *''The Case of the Wandering Scholar'' (2019) *''The Mystery of the Sorrowful Maiden'' (2021)

Children's books

*''A Spell of Witches'' (1999) *''The Belfry Witches'' (omnibus) (2003) *''Cat and the Stinkwater War'' (2003) *''The Little Secret'' (2006) *''Beswitched'' (2010) *''Magicalamity'' (2011) *''The Whizz Pop Chocolate Shop'' (2012) *''The Curse of The Chocolate Phoenix'' (2013) *''Five Children on the Western Front'' (2014) *''The Land of Neverendings'' (2017)

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saunders, Kate 1960 births 2023 deaths 20th-century English actresses 20th-century English journalists 20th-century English short story writers 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English women writers 21st-century English short story writers 21st-century English novelists 21st-century English women writers Actresses from London Deaths from cancer in England Deaths from multiple sclerosis People with multiple sclerosis English children's writers English fantasy writers English non-fiction writers English Roman Catholics English television actresses Actors from the London Borough of Islington The Sunday Times people Writers from the London Borough of Islington English writers with disabilities People from Archway, London