Cate Whittle is an Australian author who writes for children and young adults. Now based in the beautiful bush capital, Canberra, after returning from living on a naturally rewilded country property, she feels strong connections to nature and does a lot of her thinking whilst walking along tree-lined streets or on trails through Canberra’s nature parks. Preferably in the rain.
While her books have always had a streak of magic and mayhem in them, mostly they are about kindness and self-belief, resilience and problem-solving, and daring to be different. Prior to her first book being published in 2016, she wrote articles and short stories for magazines and anthologies about anything from Viking adventurers to wolves returning to Yellowstone Park! Her first published book was a story about a feisty girl and her dragon, Trouble, who starred in their very own junior fiction series. The third of these books, Trouble and The New Kid (2017) was a Notable book in the CBCA Book of the Year Awards.
Cate has also featured in the prizewinning list of several competitions, most notably for her shortlisting in the Terry Pratchett First Novel Award, when she got to travel to London to meet the great man himself (but didn’t win!). That epic fantasy never made it to print, but she is now the author of nine published junior fiction and middle-grade books, the most recent being a solar-punk climate fiction adventure for middle-grade readers, Starberries and Kee, and two little junior fiction books about Millie: The Cutest Puppy in the World.
As a long-time teacher (now retired), Cate has a passion for literacy and language, and creating stories that speak to young people today, inspiring them with hope and a sense of agency. Apart from writing, Cate loves to spend her time lost in a good book, exploring new places, learning new things, pottering in the garden, and taking way too many photographs. She thinks that a nice hot cup of tea helps with most things and is still searching for the wardrobe door that leads to Narnia.
Find out more about Cate by visiting her website: catewhittlewrites.com
Cate's books with Rhiza Press include:
Chasing Aurora (coming in 2028)