Episode 78: Spellbinding Storytelling … with Kate Forsyth

Play episode
The Catherine Plano Podcast
The Catherine Plano Podcast
Episode 78: Spellbinding Storytelling … with Kate Forsyth
Loading
/

Catherine is here today with Kate Forsyth. Kate Forsyth wrote her first novel at the age of seven, and is now the internationally bestselling & award-winning author of almost forty, ranging from picture books to poetry to novels for both adults and children. She was recently voted one of Australia’s Favourite 15 Novelists, and has been called ‘one of the finest writers of this generation’. She is also an accredited master storyteller with the Australian Guild of Storytellers, and has told stories to both children and adults all over the world.

Her most recent book for adults is a historical novel called ‘The Beast’s Garden’ which retells the Grimm brothers’ version of ‘Beauty & the Beast’, set in the German underground resistance to Hitler in World War II. “A wonderful tale of daring and courage, of struggle and survival, of love and loyalty, this is a ‘must read’.” Book’d Out

‘The Wild Girl’ tells the true, untold love story of Wilhelm Grimm and Dortchen Wild, the young woman who told him many of the world’s most famous fairy tales. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, ‘The Wild Girl’ is a story of love, war, heartbreak, and the redemptive power of storytelling, and was named the Most Memorable Love Story of 2013.

Kate is probably most famous for ‘Bitter Greens’, a retelling of the Rapunzel fairy tale interwoven with the dramatic life story of the woman who told the tale as it is best known, the 17th century French writer, Charlotte-Rose de la Force. ‘Bitter Greens’ has been called ‘the best fairy tale retelling since Angela Carter’, and won the American Library Association Award for Best Historical Novel of 2015. It was also nominated for a Norma K. Hemming Award, the Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Fiction, and a Ditmar Award. It has sold more than a quarter of a million copies world-wide.

Since ‘The Witches of Eileanan’ was named a Best First Novel of 1998 by Locus Magazine, Kate has won or been nominated for numerous awards, including a CYBIL Award in the US. She’s also the only author to win five Aurealis awards in a single year, for her Chain of Charms series – beginning with ‘The Gypsy Crown’ – which tells of the adventures of two Romany children in the time of the English Civil War. Book 5 of the series, ‘The Lightning Bolt’, was also a CBCA Notable Book.

Kate’s books have sold more than a million copies internationally, having been published in 17 countries including the UK, the US, Russia, Germany, France, Japan, Turkey, Spain, Italy, Poland and Slovenia. She has a doctorate in fairy tale studies from at the University of Technology, having already completed a BA in Literature and a MA in Creative Writing.

Kate is a direct descendant of Charlotte Waring, the author of the first book for children ever published in Australia, ‘A Mother’s Offering to her Children”. She lives by the sea in Sydney, Australia, with her husband, three children, and many thousands of books.

Kate is also a proud ambassador for the two following wonderful initiatives to help disadvantaged children change their worlds through the power of books and reading – Room to Read and The Pyjama Foundation

Find Out More About Kate Forsyth

Kate Forsyth’s Website

Follow Kate of Facebook

Kate on Twitter @KateForsyth

Kate Forsyth on Instagram @kate_forsyth_

Sit back, tune in and enjoy the show!

Subscribe: iTunes | Stitcher | RSS

Episode 78