Kate Cann (born 1954) is an English author of

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...

Biography

Cann wrote stories and diaries in her youth. She she received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in English from the

University of Kent , motto_lang = , mottoeng = Literal translation: 'Whom to serve is to reign'(Book of Common Prayer translation: 'whose service is perfect freedom')Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' ...

in 1977, then a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in American Literature from the same university in 1978. Cann began work 'in the 1980s for publishing house, Time Life Books as a copy-editor', and when working on a piece 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 ...

decided that she could do better - in her own words, 'got bitten by the "I can do better than this" bug, and started writing...it took me over'. Once ''Diving In'' (1983?) was published, she began writing full-time. Kate Cann resides in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

Sources and themes

Cann kept a diary from which she drew from experiences. By the time she 'ran out of material from my diaries and memories, I realised that my daughter and son were teenagers, and started eavesdropping on them and their friends'. A prime motivator of her writing was the way 'teenage books...treated sexual relationships: they were either full of gloom and doom, or were gushy, unrealistic candyfloss'. Kate offers by contrast a certain

verismo In opera, ''verismo'' (, from , meaning "true") was a post-Romantic operatic tradition associated with Italian composers such as Pietro Mascagni, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Umberto Giordano, Francesco Cilea and Giacomo Puccini. ''Verismo'' as an ...

: 'I focus on the real things that don't change - like love and anger and happiness and jealousy'. A secondary, but almost equally important theme in her work is the struggle against the (often subtly) controlling figure. This may be a boyfriend who is 'a

control freak The colloquialism control freak usually describes a person with an obsession with getting things done a certain way. A control freak can become distressed when someone causes a deviation in the way they prefer to do things. Control freak can als ...

. Scared to let us have differences'; a "Best Friend" for imitation - 'I flattered her, I...mirrored her and buoyed her up'; or a parent like the heroine's mother in ''Hard Cash'': 'A real living breathing human vampire. She's feeding off you...turning on the

emotional blackmail Emotional blackmail and FOG are terms popularized by psychotherapist Susan Forward about controlling people in relationships and the theory that fear, obligation and guilt (FOG) are the transactional dynamics at play between the controller and th ...

at full power'. Alternatively, the controlling force - "''denying the separateness of the other''" - may be a group cult, whether a formal one (''Speeding'') or an informal

subculture A subculture is a group of people within a culture that differentiates itself from the parent culture to which it belongs, often maintaining some of its founding principles. Subcultures develop their own norms and values regarding cultural, poli ...

, like the hero's 'bond to the team...their triumphant, tribal energy' in ''Leader of the Pack''. Such controlling powers may be seen as externalisations of the adolescent's quest for identity achievement, in the face of both inner and outer obstacles. Cann's protagonists, under both social and sexual pressures, regularly face the alternative peril of identity diffusion: 'You're not you any longer, you're what he wants you to be. A shadow person, a non-person, no centre, no wholeness. Just a limp hotchpotch of what someone else once wanted you to be'. Despite such dangers, Cann's own predilection remains nonetheless firmly for engagement with life - for "diving in"; and even when her heroes do temporarily trade in their own identities for an externally formulated one - whether 'a dream of money' or a social group, 'the team and everything' - they typically conclude, '"Well, I don't wish it hadn't happened"'; "I'm glad I was part of it. It's part of me now...and I'm glad about that too".Kate Cann, ''Leader of the Pack'' (London 2008) p. 329

Awards and honours

Publications

Young adult fiction

* ''Caught in the Act'' (1997) * ''Too Hot to Handle'' (1997) * ''Breaking Up'' (2001) * ''Shop Dead'' (2001) * ''Text Game'' (2004) * '' Leaving Poppy'' (2006) * ''Leader of the Pack'' (2008) * ''Witch Crag'' (2012)

Art & Coll series

* ''Diving In'' (1996) * ''In the Deep End'' (1997) * ''Sink or Swim'' (2001) * ''Art History'' (2009)

Beach series

* ''Grecian Holiday: Or, How I Turned Down the Best Possible Thing Only to Have the Time of My Life'' (1999) * ''Spanish Holiday: Or, How I Transformed the Worst Vacation Ever into the Best Summer of My Life'' (2001) * ''California Holiday: Or, How the World's Worst Summer Job Gave Me a Great New Life'' (2003) * ''Mediterranean Holiday: Or, How I Moved to a Tiny Island and Found the Love of My Life'' (2007)

Crow Girl series

* ''Crow Girl'' (2005) * ''Crow Girl Returns'' (2006) * ''Crow Girl Rises'' (2012)

Hard Cash trilogy

* ''Hard Cash'' (2001) * ''Shacked Up'' (2001) * ''Speeding'' (2004)

Rayne books

* ''Possessed'' (2008) * ''Consumed'' (2009)

Young adult non-fiction

*''Living in the World'', illustrated by Derek Matthews (1996)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cann, Kate 1954 births Living people 20th-century English novelists 21st-century English novelists English women novelists British writers of young adult literature Women writers of young adult literature 21st-century English women writers 20th-century English women writers