Pamela Kavanagh

BACKGROUND

Pamela Kavanagh lives in South Cheshire, England, and has a son, a daughter and two grandchildren. She was educated at Chester and worked in primary education before turning to full-time writing. Pamela divides her work into two categories; junior pony mysteries and adult historical/family drama.

Pamela says:

I think I've always been a bit of a scriber. As a very young child I wove stories around the family dog, a rascally Kerry Blue terrier called Peter who lived in the magical land of Peterville and had fantastic adventures there.

Schooldays saw me in trouble for daydreaming. There were subjects in which 'could do better' appeared on end-of-term reports. Others, those that sparked the imagination, tended to balance the scales.

Following a career in teaching when work and the demands of raising a family had to be juggled, I began writing seriously, starting with country articles for magazines. Then came fiction, and the lure of seeing a first effort in print - a short story in Pony Magazine entitled Lucky Thirteen (I still have a copy!). Twelve months of targeting the writing competition arena brought the usual mix of triumph and disappointment, though results on the whole were encouraging. By this time the magazine side of things was growing, as was the ambition. Dreams came true when my first children's novel, The Pony Swap, was launched by equine publishers, J A Allen. On the strength of this I gained my agent for the junior work and have been with them ever since.

More junior titles followed, published by a Scandinavian book club which operates in several territories. I get asked about inspiration. Well, the ideas seem to pop up from anywhere. Often a story blossoms from something a person says - and I'm addicted to chatting to folks over a coffee in town. A long walk with the dog generally blows away the writer's block imps.

The magazine work flourished. A surge of reader interest prompted my editor to press me into sending the magazine tear-sheets of a current serial to Robert Hale Publishers, with a view to turning it into a novel. It seemed a slim chance and I did not immediately respond. Then, on impulse I bundled the twelve instalments of The Love Spoon into an envelope and sent it off. The reply came. An acceptance.

The Touchstone followed. This won the Red Roses for Author's Christmas 2008 Award and a third Hale title, Across the Sands of Time, was shortlisted for the same award in 2009. Other titles were to come. The list was growing.

Next to my wonderful family my passions are reading, music (folk and classical), playing the flute, gardening, handicrafts, horses, dogs and the British countryside. Pet dislikes are people who make uncouth remarks to writers (why do they do it?) and, more seriously, the desecration of our beautiful old rural villages by over-zealous building projects. Grr!

I welcome feedback on my books and short stories and would love to hear from any followers out there. You can also follow me on Facebook, search for Pamela Kavanagh - Author. I'm also on twitter @pamelakavanagh6

ADULT TITLES

Trust in Your Heart 1997 (D.C. Thomson Pocket Novel)

The Secret of Larchlea Farm 2000 (D.C. Thomson Pocket Novel)

The Love Spoon 2007 (Robert Hale hardback)

The Touchstone 2008 (Robert Hale hardback)

Across the Sands of Time 2009 (Robert Hale hardback) (F.A. Thorpe Large Print) (E-book)

The Rags of Time 2011 (D.C. Thomson Pocket Novel)

The Holly Bough 2011 (D.C. Thomson Pocket Novel)

The Lonely Furrow 2012 (Robert Hale hardback) (F.A. Thorpe Large Print)

The Dark Circle 2012 (E-book)

The Holly Bough 2014 (F.A.Thorpe Large Print. World.)

The Pride of the Morning 2016 (Robert Hale hardback)

The Rags of Time 2019 (F.A. Thorpe)

The Lonely Furrow 2023 (revised edition. Joffe Books. Paperback)

JUNIOR TITLES

The Pony Swap 1994

The Good Misfit 1995

Ride Like the Wind (Orion Pony Story Collection) 1994

The Legendary Unicorn 1997

The Dark Rider 1998

The Golden Stirrup 2000

Hoofbeats in the Dark 2001

Taladinn 2003

The Kingfisher Book of Horse and Pony Stories 2005 (Orion) (E-book)

Hoofbeats on the Wind 2005

Pony Farm Mystery 2006

Dreamcatcher 2008

Hoofbeats at Midnight 2009

Fire Fairy 2013

Hoofbeats In the Mist 2015

No Place For A Pony (E-book)

Coper Gold (E-book)

Taladinn (reprint) 2016

Snowberry 2016

Taladinn 2023 Reprint

Best wishes to all and happy reading.

Pamela Kavanagh