About Katie
When she was at school, Katie was crazy about books. Determined to become an author one day, she spent endless hours writing, drawing and putting together her creations. But somewhere along the way, she forgot about her childhood ambition. She became busy doing other things like studying, working, travelling and raising a family.
Many years later, when reading to her three young ones, Katie realised she loved children’s books even more than she loved adult’s books. And then, she remembered she’d always wanted to write them ... so, she started writing and hasn’t looked back!
These days, Katie Furze writes children’s fiction and non-fiction including picture books, short stories, articles, plays, readers and novels. She has a master’s degree in creative writing and is fascinated by science and nature. Her first non-fiction picture book Tuatara, a Living Treasure illustrated by Ned Barraud is on the way from Scholastic NZ!
You can read her work in the New Zealand School Journal, or The School Magazine in Australia. Katie has also written stories in anthologies and readers and plays for educational publishers.
When she’s not reading or writing, Katie enjoys the outdoors, tramping, yoga, travelling and scuba diving.
Katie is represented by Frances Plumpton of the Frances Plumpton Literary Agency.
Awards
- Joy Cowley Award for a picture book manuscript - highly commended 2022
- Auckland University of Technology Faculty of Culture and Society Masters Scholarship 2018
- Tom Fitzgibbon Award for a middle grade manuscript - shortlist 2015
- NZ Society of Authors Mentorship 2012
- Joy Cowley Award for a picture book manuscript - shortlist 2011