Finding Zini

About Catherine Bruton

Catherine Bruton studied English at Oxford University and has been juggling life as a teacher, children’s author and mum for the past fifteen years. As an English teacher at King Edward’s School, Bath, she sees first-hand the impact stories can have on young readers – opening their eyes, expanding their horizons, making them ask questions and see the world differently.

Her books tackle some of the big issues faced by young people today – terrorism, immigration, the cult of celebrity, the refugee crisis – in ways that are heart-breaking, often hilarious, but invariably hopeful. 

Her multi-award nominated debut, We Can Be Heroes was recently made into a film starring Alison Steadman and Phil Davies and, as an ‘extra’ on the film set, Catherine got to realise her a lifelong dream when she actually got to spend a day living in one of her own stories! 

No Ballet Shoes in Syria received much acclaim on publication in 2019, was nominated for the 2020 CILIP Carnegie Medal, featured as a BBC Bitesize text and was selected as The Times Children’s Book of the Week as well as sweeping the reviews pages of most national newspapers. 

She is also the author of I Predict a Riot and Pop! And as her alter-ego Cate Shearwater, she is the author of the much-loved Somersaults and Dreams series.