About Me :: Karen King, Children's Writer ::

Birmingham born and bred, I recently spent eight years living in Cornwall but have now moved to Worcester. I have four grown-up daughters and seven grandchildren.

I started my writing career with the teenage magazine, Jackie and spent many years writing for various children's magazines before concentrating solely on writing books. I've had over one hundred children's books published by a range of publishers, including Walker, Scholastic and Harper Collins. I write both fiction and non-fiction - including picture books, story books, activity, joke and puzzle books - for children from pre-school to teens. My picture book 'I Don't Eat Toothpaste Anymore' won the Gold Award for Best Product and my Country Companions book 'The Birthday Surprise' won the Practical Parenting Award. Some of my short stories were featured on Playdays BBC and some of my poems on the BBC One Potato, Two Potato website.

I love writing for children because they are so willing to suspend disbelief and bury themselves into the characters and imaginary worlds of Storyland. Books brought me so much pleasure when I was a child, I can still remember laughing out loud at the hilarious escapades of 'Just William' or chewing my fingernails as the 'Secret Seven' went on yet another exciting adventure. Books can mean so many things to children, they can make them laugh, hope, dream, take them away from their problems for a while, or help them cope with them. Modern technology is wonderful but to me nothing is as good as settling down with a good book.

Click on the links on the left of the screen to find out more information about my published work, my writing classes, and how to contact me.

Some things you might like to know about me

I have absolutely no sense of direction and get lost so often my family are scared to let me go out on my own. So if I visit your school please make sure you keep an eye on me or you never know where I will end up.
I can't ride a bike.
I can't whistle.
I can make paper planes, fortune tellers and lots of things from cardboard tubes and bits of paper.
When my daughters were small I used to make their clothes. They have never forgiven me.
The things I like best are eating chocolate and reading, preferably both at the same time.

Favourite books as a child

Just William
Secret Seven
Bobby Brewster

Things I wanted to do as a child

Dig to Australia
Be a ballerina
Travel the world

I haven't done any of these yet but hey, there's still time!