About Kathleen Whyman
%20credit%20Alex.jpg)
Kathleen Whyman wrote her first novel at the age of 10. Despite the accompanying illustrations, The Ghost of Cripple Creek was rejected, but it didn’t put her off a life of writing.
Working as a magazine journalist, Kathleen longed to be a novelist, but got slightly sidetracked over the years by work, children and Mad Men box sets. It was her eight-year-old daughter’s words – 'Stop talking about writing a book and just write one' – that gave her the push she needed to enrol on a writing course through Faber Academy, tutored by Jill Dawson.
Kathleen’s debut novel, Wife Support System, published by Hera Books, was inspired by her own feeble attempt to juggle a career with childcare, never-ending house ‘stuff’ and, outrageously, occasionally some time for herself. She is still struggling.
Wife Support System was shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s Joan Hessayon Award 2020 and the Romance Comedy Novel of the Year 2021.
Kathleen’s next novel, Second Wife Syndrome, was shortlisted for the Comedy Women in Print prize 2020 in the unpublished comic novel category.
Kathleen writes a monthly column for Writers’ Forum magazine and contributes to the RNA’s magazine Romance Matters. She also wrote short stories for Jackie magazine in her teens. Thankfully these were never printed.
Kathleen lives in Hertfordshire with her husband and two daughters – one of whom is expecting 10 per cent of any profits.