Author photo by University of Suffolk
Katie Ward is an award-winning author from Suffolk UK. Her new novel, Pathways, is published by Fleet (Little, Brown UK 2024). Pathways is contemporary fiction: about Cara, a neuroscientist with a research post at Cambridge trying to make an impact in her field; and Heather, her almost-stepdaughter, who goes to Las Vegas on impulse without a backward glance. A novel of both the heart and the head, Pathways is perceptive, wry and unexpectedly moving – a love story of deep originality and intelligence.
Katie’s debut novel, Girl Reading, was published in the UK (Virago 2011), US (Scribner 2012) and South Korea (박하 Bakha 2014). It was a Cactus TV Book Club selection and a book of the week on The Oprah Blog.
In 2013 Katie received the Clarissa Luard Award from Hilary Mantel.
Katie says this:
‘Novels are intimate. They are an opportunity to share a point of view, to show and feel what cannot easily be explained. Some ideas are too intriguing and multifaceted to ignore: you stick with them because there is more you need to know. You’re trying to get as close as possible to your characters and story, until they are revealed. You can struggle with a manuscript for years, and eventually it’s finished because you’ve found the answers you were looking for. Then your novel goes out into the world and it becomes a mystery again.’
Since Katie was first published, her roles have included: founder of Wolsey Writers at New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich; Lecturer in English and Creative Writing at University of Suffolk on the BA and MA courses; and co-leader of the INK Festival Scriptwriting Forum at Ipswich Waterfront.
In 2022 she was commissioned to write Episode 7 of The Easts, a radio drama for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, produced by Trevor Dann.
Katie has also survived breast cancer in her 30s; travelled around the world; and added her support to the English Collective of Prostitutes’ campaign to #MakeAllWomenSafe. Before she was a novelist, Katie worked in the public and voluntary sectors, including at a women’s refuge, and for a member of parliament.
Katie has a lifelong interest in philosophy. Her new novel Pathways was inspired by the hard problem of consciousness (sometimes known as the mind-body problem).
