Kate Saunders Obituary

Kate Mary Saunders was a writer, actress, and journalist from England. Kate Saunders died on April 21, 2023, at the age of 62, at her home in Archway, London.

Kate Saunders suffered from multiple sclerosis. Her health deteriorated in the years following her son’s death, but she continued to write until the end. The news of her death was shared by her sister Louisa Saunders in a Twitter post.

Kate Saunders, the eldest of six children, was born in 1960 to a Catholic family in London. She began her career as an actress before transitioning to writing.

Kate Saunders published more than 20 novels for adults and children, ranging in genre from historical romance to detective stories to children’s books.

She received the Betty Trask Award, and the Costa Children’s Book Award, and was nominated for the Carnegie Medal twice.

Kate Saunders judged the 1990 Booker Prize, persuading her fellow judges to choose AS Byatt’s Possession as the winner. She was a columnist for the Sunday Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Sunday Express, She, and Cosmopolitan.

A Drop of Golden Sun, her most recent children’s book about a family of child actors, will be published by Faber in 2024.