| 20 July 2010
With her teenage years “full of angst” and two children for inspiration, it’s no wonder Cathy Cassidy’s books strike such a chord with her readers.When Cathy Cassidy completed her first novel, she didn’t have an agent. Picking one at random “because of her funny name” – Darley Anderson – she sent off her book. Then came two surprises: “‘She’ was actually a very well spoken English gentleman,” she says. The other surprise was Anderson admitting he had never dealt with a children’s author before. “He only confessed when he’d sold it,” she laughs, “and said he hadn’t wanted to miss out on the next big thing.”
Although Puffin sealed the deal, five other major publishers were vying for Cassidy’s book. Novels such as Dizzy, Scarlett, Indigo Blue and Angel Cake – she has thirteen books in print – struck an immediate chord with her predominantly female, 9-14 readership. “It’s a time when you’re poised on the edge of life, ready to dive in,” she says. “Emotions are heightened and there’s a sense that everything is possible.”
It’s a life stage which, with two teenagers of her own, Cassidy recalls in vivid detail. “I was full of angst,” she recalls. “I wish someone had told me that things you think are huge at the time probably aren’t. Through my books, I try to encourage kids to stick up for what they believe in, and show that all shapes and varieties of families are good as long as love is there.”
Raised in Coventry, Cassidy had her first short story published in Look In magazine when she was 16. For twelve years she was Shout magazine’s agony aunt, but receives far more advice-seeking letters from readers of her books than she ever did at the magazine. “They seem to recognise themselves in my stories and feel understood,” she says. “Working on Jackie and Shout and teaching in schools has kept me in touch with this age group. I tried writing all sorts – adult fiction, younger picture books – but nothing ever took. Once I’d found the right voice, it all came together.”
Cassidy has spent the past two decades in rural Kircudbrightshire and lives with husband Liam, a postman, her children and a menagerie of cats, rabbits and a lurcher called Kelpie (who starred in her debut novel). She does book tours in a covetable burgundy VW camper van, and writes in a pale blue writing shed specially built for her in the garden. Fans bombard her with emails, drawings and gifts. It sounds like a charmed life. “What I love is being able to see the world in so many different ways,” she says. “Whether it’s the rebel, the bully or the girl who’s just arrived from overseas – all those characters become very real to me. An idea takes hold and bangs away at my imagination. Then it feels as if anything is possible.”
Charlotte Square, 17 August, 10am, £4, Tel: 0845 373 5888
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