Kate Wakeling
Kate Wakeling is a poet and musicologist who writes for both children and adults. Her debut collection of children’s poetry, Moon Juice (The Emma Press) is illustrated by Elīna Brasliņa, won the 2017 CLiPPA and was nominated for the 2018 CILIP Carnegie Medal. Kate’s second collection for children, Cloud Soup, came out in 2021 and was shortlisted for the 2022 CliPPA and selected as a Book of the Month by the Scotsman and the Guardian. A pamphlet of Kate’s poetry for adults, The Rainbow Faults, is published by The Rialto.
Kate studied music at university and often collaborates with musicians, including as writer-in-residence for Aurora Orchestra. She loves writing scripts for musical performances, and her work has featured at the Southbank Centre, the Barbican, Kings Place and on BBC Radio 3.
- 2017 CLiPPA Prize Winner
- 2018 Carnegie Medal Nominee
- 2022 CLiPPA Prize Shortlist
Praise for Cloud Soup
Both limpidly welcoming and profoundly meaningful, some of these poems, on subjects from weird cakes to good ideas, bodies, dust and Antarctica, will surely stay with their enthralled readers for ever.
Did you know…
Kate has double-jointed thumbs which means she can bend them in all sorts of alarming but intriguing ways.
When Kate was younger she spent lots of time studying music, and in her twenties she lived in Indonesia for a year where she learnt to play Balinese gamelan music and developed a habit for mopeds, all-night puppet shows and very spicy instant noodles.
Kate is a longstanding champion of guinea pigs and firmly believes them to be among the most underrated animals on the planet.
Find out more on Kate Wakeling's website
Publishers' websites
Watch:
Kate Wakeling reads one of her poems