Katherine Battersby is the critically acclaimed author and illustrator of eleven picture books and three graphic novels published around the world, including the Squish Rabbit series, Little Wing and the popular Cranky Chicken series. Her books have received glowing reviews in The New York Times, starred Kirkus reviews and been shortlisted for numerous Australian awards (including the Crichton Award and the Speech Pathology Book of the Year Awards). 

She is regularly booked to speak in schools, libraries and at festivals and she is a passionate advocate for literacy and the arts. In another life, Katherine worked for many years as a paediatric occupational therapist, specialising as a children’s counsellor, and she has also studied graphic design. She grew up by the beach in Queensland and currently lives in Ottawa, Canada (but regularly returns to Australia to speak about her books).

Katherine is an experienced children's presenter, who is known for giving talks and workshops that are interactive, engaging and fun. Her book talks foster a love of reading through stories and illustration games, while her writing workshops include a series of imaginative writing tasks that help young people create vivid stories that come to life. In her illustration workshops participants learn how to create their own characters and capture them on the page, while her popular comic book workshops help kids experiment with panel art and speech bubbles, using words and images together to create humorous new stories and characters. She has featured at children's literary festivals such as the Brisbane Writers Festival, the Northern Territory Writers Festival, Voices on the Coast, Whitsunday Voices, Voices on the Range and the Woodford Folk Festival and she has also presented at schools across Australia and the world. 

Katherine spent the last eleven years living in Ottawa on un-ceded Anishinabe Algonquin territory (Canada) but is excited to have now returned to live in Meanjin / Brisbane.