Cathy Hayward

Cathy trained as a journalist and wrote about everything from accounting and supply chains to football finances and port strategy before moving into public relations. In 2022, after having spent a lifetime pottering around bookshops, she bought Kemptown Bookshop in Brighton, where she has created a community hub that supports local authors and aspiring writers. In 2023, she took on management of The Creative Writing Programme, the leading independent centre for creative writing teaching in the south-east of England—the course that set her on track to be a writer. When she’s not writing (or reading), Cathy loves pottering in other people’s bookshops. She lives in Brighton with her three children and two rescue cats.