Cathy Cassidy (born 13 June 1962) is a British author of young adult fiction, mainly focusing on domestic fiction. She was born in Coventry, but now lives in Galloway, Scotland. She has written fourteen books. She has also been the agony aunt for Shout, a magazine for teenage girls, however she has a series of two books at present aout 'daizy star' for younger readers.
Cathy was born in 1962 in Coventry, England.She wrote her first picture book for her little brother when she was eight or nine, and made comics with pages of picture stories, features and competitions which she would sell for 5p, then take back, then sell again, 'as there were no photocopiers back then!'Cathy often imagined stories at an early age, one perticular one of a trio of feisty sisters that inspired her latest novel. She grew up with only one sibling, a brother, so that dream remained only a fantasy for her. She grew up in Coventry until a late teen, then left for Somerset to become a waitress in a cafe, juggling platters of food and laughing and blushing at every attempt that often ended on the floor. This also inspired Cherry Crush!Cathy attended Art College in Liverpool, before landing a job as fiction editor on Jackie magazine. She worked for the mag Shout as the agony aunt for quite some time, then left to become an kooky art teacher in various Scottish high schools. With the training from college, she became just like Miss Quinn from Driftwood, kooky and cool and fun, and the teacher everyone loved! She wasn't always writing back then, not as much as she has battered out story after story on her typewriter as a teen, when she would bash out short stories and send them off to her fave mag! Cathy also has a pink Volkswagen Campervan, which she uses to tour up and down the county in promoting her books,and it appeared on the cover of Dizzy! She has an a level in art i think! xx
Cathy now lives in the Galloway Hills in Scotland with husband Liam, and two children, Caitlin and Calum, aged 16 and 17 respectively. She has been a vegetarian for over thirty years, and was a vegan for eight of them. Her lurcher Kelpie inspired the dog "Leggit" in her first book Dizzy. Cathy also has three cats,Lily,Pickle and Pepper, and three rabbits- Snowdrop, Midnight and Bramble.
Cathy is obsessed with cupcakes and this helps inspire her books, particularly Angel Cake!
Cathy was the agony aunt on teenage Shout magazine for 12 years and for many years taught art in local primary schools, but is now a full-time author. She has revealed that she was once an art teacher at secondary schools, and went to university to take an art degree. She has drawn all the illustrations and the front cover to all the Daizy Star books. Cathy loves chocolate, which she says is perfect for healing the heart, and also makes reading her books extra special. Her latest series, The Chocolate Box Girls, are inspired by chocolate, the story of five girls whose parents start a business in making truffles. She claims that the names for each book are also the names of a truffle, and enjoys the 'research' - eating and tasting chocolate and recalling on her days in Somerset as a waitress.
Cathy Cassidy has an exclusive fan club known as the Dream Team whose job to contribute advice, suggestions and feedback in return for various benefits such as receiving Cassidy's books before their release.
Cathy Cassidy has twice been nominated for the Queen of Teen award, in 2008, when it was founded, and 2010. Girls all over the UK can nominated their favourite author and the 10 most popular make the shortlist, in which girls once again must vote their favourite of the selection. Authors has included Sarah Webb, Louise Rennison (the 2008 winner!) and Sarra Manning. The ceremony takes place and is a glamourous, glitzy affair, with pink cupcakes and a tiara for each author to wear. The authors arrive in pink stretch limos to the event, sign copies of their own books for fans who have bought tickets to the event, then enjoy some light bites, mingling and nervous conversations before finding their seats and waiting to announce the winner. A fan, who has nominated their chosen winning author the best, also gets to come to the ceremony and watch it all happen. In 2010, thousands of loving fans voted Cathy as their winner, in which Cathy was crowned with a heavy tiara, pink sash and a silver throne - very glam! She later ran lots of competitions to her fans as a thank you, calling them her 'decrees' and says it was 'a HUGE compliment'! Congrats Cathy!
The Cathy Cassidy Dreams and Doodles Daybook (2008)
Shine On, Daizy Star (2009)
Angel Cake (2009)
"Letters to Cathy" (2009)
Cherry Crush - The Chocolate Box Girls (2010)
She has also written three mini books:
"Love Peace and Chocolate"(2007)
"Ice-Cream And Dreams"(2008)
"Cupcakes and Kisses"(2009)
Influences for her books include chocolate, cake, hope, happiness, friendship and love. Sundae Girl, Driftwood and The Chocolate Box Girls series are both set in places she has been - Coventry, Galloway and Somerset respectively. Cathy keeps a 'jotter' full of ideas, drawings, notes and cutouts from magazines to help inspire and develop plots, and carries it around with her so she jot down things on the go, such as names, things she has heard and out-of-the-blue ideas. Cathy is also fond of Kitty's Tearoom, Galloway, where the cake 'Angel Wings' came in handy for her book Angel Cake, and takes pride in the scrummy research she has to do.
Every year, a competition is held for girls all over the UK to tell Cathy why their best friend rocks. This involves using an A4 piece of paper, in which can be decorated with pictures, words, photographs and other things, to show how their best friend rocks. Cathy and a team of five others, including the Mizz magazine editor and Cathy's editor at Puffin, will chose six finalists, whose entries have caught their eye and shown to them truly why their best friend is special. These six finalists make the shortlist, which is revealed in Mizz magazine, and then are each contacted by someone from Puffin to tell them and give them details of the award ceremony, where prizes will be given to the grand winner and runners up. This had previously taken place in London and recently in Edinburgh. The winners are given a hamper full of things to help them to have the perfect sleepover. Until 2010, that would be the only prize, but now every finalist receives a goody bag. The idea, Cathy has said, is to help encourage friendships between girls, a way of preventing bullying and making strong bonds for the future.
