Katie Ward. Photo by Ali Smith ©
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 trying to make a contribution to the field; and Heather, her almost-stepdaughter, trying to find ways to express herself. Set partly in the research labs of Cambridge – and partly on the luminous streets of Las Vegas – these two different worldviews seem irreconcilable. Fascinating, perceptive and intimate, Pathways is a novel of both the heart and the head.
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. She received the Clarissa Luard Award in 2013.
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.’
Katie founded Wolsey Writers, a creative writing group based at New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich, in 2015. They meet on the first Saturday of the month.
Her previous roles have included: lecturer in creative writing at University of Suffolk on the BA and MA courses; and co-leader of INK Festival Scriptwriting Forum, Ipswich Waterfront, with director Ann Bryson. In 2022, Katie was commissioned to write Episode 7 of The Easts, a radio drama for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, produced by Trevor Dann.
And in 2024, her feature in the Guardian, ‘Hilary Mantel was my mentor. Here are seven things she taught me about writing – and life,’ went viral.
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, and Pathways was partially inspired by the hard problem of consciousness (also known as the mind-body problem).
