Kate Summerscale


Kate Summerscale is an English writer and journalist.

Biography

Summerscale was brought up in Japan, England and Chile. After attending Bedales School, she took a double-first at Oxford University and an MA in journalism from Stanford University. She lives in London with her son.

Writing

She is the author of The Suspicions of Mr Whicher or The Murder at Road Hill House, based on a real-life crime committed by Constance Kent and investigated by Jack Whicher, which won the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction 2008, and the bestselling The Queen of Whale Cay, about Joe Carstairs, 'fastest woman on water', which won a Somerset Maugham Award in 1998 and was shortlisted for the 1997 Whitbread Awards for biography. Her book on Whicher inspired the 2011-2014 ITV drama series, The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, written by Helen Edmundson.
She worked for The Independent and from 1995 to 1996 she wrote and edited obituaries for The Daily Telegraph. She also worked as literary editor of The Daily Telegraph. Her articles have appeared in The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph.
She has also judged various literary competitions including the Booker Prize in 2001.

Awards and prizes