Photo: TimDuncan / CC BY 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Kate Atkinson is, to my mind, one of the most genre-agile storytellers writing in English. Her debut, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, snatched the Whitbread Award outright, and she has since moved fluidly between family saga, historical fiction and detective novels, weaving in postmodern and magical-realist textures without ever feeling gimmicky. Honored with an MBE in 2011, she has the credentials, but it is her refusal to stay in one lane that I find thrilling. Reading her, I get the sense of a writer who treats form as a playground, and her pages are genuinely hard to put down.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Kate Atkinson
- Name (Japanese)
- ケイト・アトキンソン
- Reading
- けいと・あときんそん
- Born
- December 20, 1951 (age 74)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Sagittarius / Rabbit
- Origin
- York, United Kingdom
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- screenwriter / novelist / playwright / journalist / short story writer
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- University of Dundee
Awards & achievements
- 2011 Member of the Order of the British Empire
- 1998 E. M. Forster Award
- 2010 Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
- 2005 Saltire Awards
- 2013 Not the Booker Prize
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Frequently asked questions
When was Kate Atkinson born?
Born December 20, 1951 (age 74).
Where is Kate Atkinson from?
Kate Atkinson is from York, United Kingdom.
What does Kate Atkinson do?
Kate Atkinson works as screenwriter, novelist, playwright, journalist, short story writer.
Screenwriter — see all → · Novelist — see all → · More people from United Kingdom →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-21
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.