Children's Fiction & Non-Fiction

Katy Birchall

Agent: Lauren Gardner

After attending Woldingham school in Surrey, Katy Birchall went to Manchester University where she received a first-class degree in English Literature and Linguistics and a Masters in Post-1900 Literature, Theories and Cultures. While at Manchester, Katy won the 2011 24/7 Theatre Festival Award for “Most Promising New Writer” for a comedy she wrote, produced and directed. She also played lead cast members in several University drama productions.

Katy’s four pet Labradors are the loves of her life and she is mildly obsessed with both Jane Austen and World War II spy biographies. She currently lives in Brixton with her much cooler and funnier housemate.

Her debut teen fiction novel The It Girl was published by Egmont in May 2015 and has currently sold in 12 foreign territories including the US, France, Germany and Spain. The second book in the It Girl series – The It Girl: Team Awkward, published in January 2016, and the third The It Girl: Don’t Tell the Bridesmaid was published in January 2017.

Katy then moved on to the Hotel Royale series, with Secrets of a Teenage Heiress being published by Egmont in January 2018 and it’s sequel, Dramas of a Teenage Heiress followed in September that year.

Alongside her own writing, Katy has had a very successful collaboration with TV superstar Alesha Dixon, on Alesha’s best-selling Lightning Girl series. Lightning Girl was published in April 2018, followed by Lightning Girl: Superhero Squad 2 in September 2018, Lightning Girl 3: Secret Supervillain March 2019, and the series finale Lightning Girl 4: Superpower Showdown published in July 2019. Alesha and Katy are continuing their partnership, with Alesha’s new series Star Switch, published in March 2020.

Alongside this, Katy has her own brand new series with Scholastic. Morgan Charmley: Teen Witch was published in September 2019, and is a perfect magical comedy for fans of 90s Sabrina the Teenage Witch. The sequel, Morgan Charmley: Spells and Secrets was published in October 2020!

Additionally, Katy has also written How Not to be A Vampire Slayer which published in September 2021. This was then followed up by The Vampire Slayer’s Survival Guide which published in September 2022.

In 2021, Katy was asked to write the only official Sex Education novel, The Road Trip with Hodder Children’s Books which published in September 2021.