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Kathryn Apel is a born-and-bred farm girl who’s scared of cows. She lives among the gum trees, kangaroos and cattle on a Queensland grazing property. Kat paints pictures with words, because much as she’d love to, Kat can’t draw. She loves pumping poetry because she can flex her muscles across other genres, to bend (and break) writing rules. A trained teacher and literacy consultant, Kat shares her passion for words at schools and festivals.

Kathryn specialises in poetry workshops for kids and adults – and staff professional development sessions across grades and curriculum area.

Click the tabs to find out more about The Kat’s Whiskers and her words. Read about Kat’s Books, with links to reviews & activities, or to Buy Books. Download Kids’ Stuff activities for home & classroom use.

Kathryn was the recipient of a 2018 May Gibbs Creative Time Fellowship in Adelaide, and an RADF Grant, to attend the 2019 3-day CYA Conference and associated activities.

Information and images on this website are copyright Kathryn Apel. Not to be reposted or published without prior written permission.

Poetry Swap – and Continent Swap

Life is a whirlwind, and I’m caught in it! But how wonderful to have mail from Iphigene arrive today – giving me the perfect excuse to join in the Poetry Friday party! Living Winter by Iphigene Daradar If we breathe in this cold air Would we not wake up? Shiver and come to surface Hold … Continue reading →

Gunnedah to Gayndah

This is a quick post to share some pics from my trip to Gunnedah last week, for the Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards Presentation Ceremony. I know many of my Poetry Friday friends are keen to see the winning poems – and if you click across to Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Award Winners (my previous post), not only … Continue reading →

Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Award Winners

Last Friday I was in Gunnedah for the prestigious Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards Presentation Ceremony. It was an honour to be asked to judge the Primary category – and a joy to meet and mix with committee and community members, award winners, and their families. I am so proud of these amazing kids, and I’m thrilled … Continue reading →

Two Aussie Verse Novels – and Picture Book NEWS!

How lovely to be with you all again – and have you gathering at my blog for the Poetry Friday link-up. Today I wanted to share two recent Australian verse novels with you, both published by UQP – and both written by friends. ‘Leave Taking’ was written by Lorraine Marwood, whose earlier verse novels, … Continue reading →

CYA 2019 – Everything’s a Genre

This post is the third (and final) in a series, feeding-back from my attendance at the 2019 CYA Conference. Click the links to read last week’s post with the CYA notes, or a sum-up of the PB Bootcamp. This week we cover ‘Everything’s a Genre’. Opening Panel Lucy Bell (Pantera Press) Considers all adult commercial fiction … Continue reading →

CYA 2019 – Conference & NEWS!

Part Two – CYA Conference Notes Following on from last week’s post about the three-day CYA Event recently in Brisbane… The actual CYA Conference started with a buzz! Competitions winners were announced and I was thrilled (and even relieved) to find that my trio of rhyming PB manuscripts won the published author competition, judged by … Continue reading →

CYA 2019 – Bootcamp Notes

Part One – Bootcamp The first weekend in July, with thanks to an RADF Grant from Bundaberg Regional Council, I attended the 14thannual CYA Conference in Brisbane, for authors of Children’s and YA books. I attended the first CYA Conference, in 2006 – and it has grown a lot since then. Not just in numbers, … Continue reading →