Kate started out as a children's writer for BBC Radio creating audio stories for pre-school listeners that involved a lot of animals (and animal noises). She then became a radio producer for many years, recording everything from boiling spaghetti to a poet in a broom cupboard, and working primarily on arts programmes, literary features and readings such as Radio 4's Book at Bedtime and Book of the Week.

She completed the MA in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University in 2018. Kate has two teenage boys and lives in North London with her partner who is a news journalist.