I was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, in 1977 so I'm a fine vintage. I have lived in Leeds, Doncaster, Birmingham, Bristol, Harrogate, Hull, Bristol (again) and currently reside in Shropshire. I feel very ungrateful to say I would really like to live in Cornwall, but it is a long-held dream of mine and nothing personal against Shropshire, which is lovely. It is, however, distinctly lacking in sea.

So at the moment I write about Cornwall instead, and I always find a lot of inspiration, whenever I visit.

My books include the now nine-book Coming Back to Cornwall series (which was originally meant to be a trilogy), three standalone novels (Writing the Town Read, Looking Past and Amongst Friends - this last one set in Bristol, a city I love dearly and where I lived for ten years). I have also embarked on a whole new series, called Connections, which is very different to Coming Back to Cornwall, and have to date published book one (Elise) and book two (Maggie). I like the challenge of writing different genres and trying new things with my writing.

In my past I've worked in the IT and charity sectors, in sales and project management, but it never felt quite right to me. When I had my daughter, I was made redundant from my job with an animal charity, and this spurred me on to do what I really love, working with words. My freelance editing and proofreading grew into Heddon Publishing, where I enjoy working with a great array of authors all over the world. I've been delighted to see some success with my own books over recent years, but still love the work I do with other writers. It's a lovely world to work in.

I have two children, a husband, and a border collie. I love living here but look forward to the day I can update my bio to say 'I live in Cornwall'. For the time being, I'll just have to keep on writing about it...

You can find out more about Katharine on her website www.katharineesmith.com and she can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn.

www.catherineclarkedesign.co.uk

Hello!

After graduating with my Illustration degree from Falmouth College of Arts in Cornwall in 2004, I began my career as a graphic designer for a local printing company, designing posters, leaflets, business cards and suchlike. I went on to work for Redan Publishing, designing top children's magazine's such as 'Friends', 'Peppa Pig', and 'Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom'.

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I married my amazingly talented husband (please check out his website: www.guyclarkephotography.com) and having two wonderful children, my design career took a secondary role for a while as I worked as a teaching assistant, which was perfect for fitting in with family life. However, I was still working in the evenings to keep my hand in with design work, becoming the designer of The Hounslow Herald, The Chiswick Herald, Chiswick Magazine and Viestra Magazine and I still work on these publications today.

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During this time, I also met Katharine E. Smith - an independent author, founder of Heddon Publishing, and mother of two of my children's friends! Having seen my design and illustration work, she asked if I would be interested in working on book cover designs, beginning with redesigning the cover of her first book, Writing the Town Read. Of course I said yes and haven't looked back. Since that first book design I've designed all of Katharine's book covers, and many more, for a wide range of authors from across the globe, in a huge range of genres.

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I love working with different people and different ideas. As a self-employed individual, who has worked with many indie authors over the years, I understand the challenges and the importance of getting the right cover, at the right price.