Click here for Kate's whale-song film

Why Kate writes about whales

Kate O'Hearn was born in Canada, but raised in the heart of New York City. She now calls the United Kingdom home.

Throughout her life, she has always had an active and vivid imagination. As a child walking down 5th Avenue, she would envision herself soaring among the city's canyons on the back of a wild dragon. While in Florida, looking over the sea, she could imagine living amongst the whales and breaching in the heavy swells. At night, a star studded sky was yet another playground. These dreams and ideas never faded. Instead they grew until they spilled over into the books she loves to write.

Herm’s Secret is not the best known of Kate's titles, but it is the book closest to her heart. From an early age, she has always had a special and cherished love of whales. That has never faded. Only now as an adult, that love has also turned into profound fear. Kate says:

The spectre of whaling isn’t going away. After all we have learned about these magnificent and sentient beings, three selfish countries still insist on hunting them to extinction.

We must make that stop!

My call for an end to the violence against whales is just a whisper in the wilderness. Which is why I wrote Herm’s Secret. To give a voice to these amazing creatures. Join me in shouting for the slaughter to stop. NOW!

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Kate is writer-in-residence at Helenswood School in Hastings, Sussex. Here she is (in her Roman Hearth Goddess outfit!) presenting her new titles to the students, and answering questions about careers in writing.

Kate O'Hearn at Helenswood School in Hastings