Cathy Cassidy (born 13 June 1962) is an English author of

young adult fiction Young adult fiction (YA) is a category of fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. While the genre is primarily targeted at adolescents, approximately half of YA readers are adults. The subject matter and genres of YA correlate ...

. She was born in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

, Warwickshire. For a number of years she lived near New Galloway in Scotland where she started writing her novels, but has since returned to England, where she now lives on The Wirral. She has written 30 books and a few e-books as well. She has also been the

agony aunt An advice column is a column in a question and answer format. Typically, a (usually anonymous) reader writes to the media outlet with a problem in the form of a question, and the media outlet provides an answer or response. The responses are wr ...

for '' Shout'', a magazine for teenage girls, and she presently has a series of four books about Daizy Star for younger readers and a series of books for older readers called the Chocolate Box Girls.

Personal life

Cassidy now lives on

The Wirral Wirral (; ), known locally as The Wirral, is a peninsula in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about long and wide and is bounded by the River Dee to the west (forming the boundary with Wales), the River Mersey to the ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

with her husband, Liam. She has two children Calum and Caitlin. She has been a vegetarian for over 35 years and was a vegan for 8 years. Her lurcher, Kelpie, inspired the dog Legg-It in her first book. Cassidy was the agony aunt on teenage ''Shout ''magazine for 12 years and for many years taught art in local primary schools. She attended Liverpool Polytechnic, where she studied Illustration. She has drawn all of the illustrations and the front covers to all the Daizy Star books.

Awards and honors

Cassidy has three times been nominated for the Queen of Teen award: in 2008 (when it was founded), 2010 and 2012. Award recipient have included Sarah Webb,

Louise Rennison Louise Rennison (11 October 1951 – 29 February 2016) was an English author and comedian who wrote the ''Confessions of Georgia Nicolson'' series for teenage girls. The series records the exploits of a teenage girl, Georgia Nicolson, and her best ...

(the 2008 winner) and

Sarra Manning Sarra Manning is an English writer and journalist. She attended the University of Sussex and took an English with media studies degree. She became a freelance writer after submitting her work to '' Melody Maker''. She worked as the entertainment ...

. In 2010, fans voted Cassidy as the winner. In 2012, she was a runner up to

Maureen Johnson Maureen Johnson (born February 16, 1973) is an American author of young adult fiction. Her published novels include series leading titles such as ''13 Little Blue Envelopes'', ''The Name of the Star'', ''Truly Devious,'' and ''Suite Scarlett''. ...

Books

List of Cathy Cassidy's books: * Daizy Star # ''Shine on, Daizy Star'' (2009) # ''Daizy Star and the Pink Guitar'' (2010) # ''Strike a Pose, Daizy Star'' (2011) # ''Oh La La! Daizy Star'' (2012) * Chocolate Box Girls # ''

Cherry Crush ''Cherry Crush'' is a 2007 American drama and thriller film directed and co-written by Nicholas DiBella. It premiered in Rochester, New York on February 16, 2007 and was released on DVD on July 3, 2007. The film stars Jonathan Tucker as Jordan ...

'' (2010) # ''Marshmallow Skye'' (2011) # ''

Summer's Dream ''Summer's Dream'' is a preteen/teen novel published in 2012 by Cathy Cassidy. The first-person narrative follows a girl named Summer Tanberry, who dreams of going to ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated duri ...

'' (2012) # ''Coco Caramel'' (2013) # ''Sweet Honey'' (2014) # ''Fortune Cookie'' (2015) # ''The Chocolate Box Secrets'' (2015) # ''Bittersweet'' (2013) # ''Chocolates and Flowers'' (2014) # ''Hopes and Dreams'' (2014) # ''Moon and Stars'' (2014) # ''Life is Sweet'' (2015) # ''Chocolate Box Girls Collection'' (omnibus) (2015) * Lost and Found # ''Love from Lexie'' (2017) # ''Sami's Silver Lining'' (2018) # ''Sasha's Secret'' (2019) # ''Forever Phoenix'' (2020) * Novels # ''Dizzy'' (2004) # ''

Indigo Blue Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', m ...

'' (2005) # ''Driftwood'' (2005) # '' Scarlett'' (2006) # ''Sundae Girl'' (2007) # ''Lucky Star'' (2007) # '' GingerSnaps'' (2008) # ''Angel Cake'' (2009) # ''Looking-Glass Girl'' (2015) # ''The Broken Heart Club'' (2016) * Omnibus # ''Daizy Star and the Pink Guitar / Strike a Pose Daizy Star / Shine on Daizy Star / Her Evil Twin / This Totally Bites'' (2011) (with Mimi McCoy) * Collections # ''Our City'' (2008) (with John Fardell and Vivian French) * Novellas # ''Ice Cream and Dreams'' (2008) # ''Snowflakes and Wishes'' (2014) * Non fiction # ''The Cathy Cassidy Dreams and Doodles Daybook'' (2008) # ''Letters to Cathy'' (2009)

References

External links

*
Cathy Cassidy at Fantastic Fiction

Audio interview with Cathy Cassidy (mp3 file, 20:36), December 2008

Guardian interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cassidy, Cathy 1962 births Living people 21st-century English women writers English women novelists 21st-century English novelists British writers of young adult literature English children's writers Women writers of young adult literature People from the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral People from Coventry