Writer: Kitty Fitzgerald

Kitty worked as a shop assistant, waitress, photographic technician, butter maid, shelf-filler and customer liaison officer before giving up work to concentrate on writing.  She took her GCE’s while her daughter was a baby, being taught by friends and at Art College.  She went on to gain a B.Ed with distinction in Art and English. 

She is the author of 4 novels: Pigtopia (2005 Faber & Faber) Small Acts of Treachery (2002 Brandon), Snapdragons (1999 Brandon) and Marge (1985 Sheba), a volume of poetry: For Crying Out Loud (1994 IRON Press) with Valerie Laws, 4 plays for BBC Radio 4 and 8 theatre plays.  She co-wrote, The Art & Craft of Short Stories with David Almond and Peter Mortimer and The Write File for Gateshead Libraries and Arts. She has won a Time to Write Award (ACNE), a C P Taylor Playwriting Bursary (Northern Playwrights) and also won the most original screenplay for Dream On (Amber Films) at Le Baule Film Festival, France. She had a Hawthornden Fellowship in 2005 and was Creative Writing Fellow at Leeds University in 2007.
Pigtopia was sold to 18 countries and was critically acclaimed making her a finalist in the Barnes & noble Discover Awards in the USA, 2006. 
She was a partner in Amber Films for several years and has also produced heritage scripts for museums and other venues. She has edited two anthologies of fiction for IRON Press: IRON Women & Biting Back. Kitty has written features for Prospect Magazine, New Society, The Leveller and others. She set up the South Pennines Oral History Project and edited its magazine, On & Off the Record. 
She was born in Ireland and now lives in Northumberland
Irish novelist Kitty Fitzgerald is a gifted writer whose use of language and imagination exposes the shimmering gold that is sometimes revealed hidden beneath a loathsome exterior. Reminiscent of The Bell Jar and The Catcher in the Rye, Pigtopia poignantly chronicles a loss of innocence that exposes the naive shortcomings of adolescence and the ruthlessness of adults in a startling and original fashion. Perfectly paced and finely crafted, the story of Jack Plum and Holly Lock is worthy of attention: A tale about ugliness and where it really hides, Pigtopia is a beautifully moving, sad and wonderful tragedy.  --Hours CA Ottowa
Kitty has just finished a new novel, The Edge of the World and is working hard  to complete another, working title, The Other Side of Clouds.