| Kate O'Hearn | |
| Birth Name: | Kate O'Hearn |
| Birth Place: | Toronto, Ontario, Canada[1] |
| Occupation: | Novelist |
| Language: | English |
| Period: | 2008–present |
Kate O'Hearn is a Canadian children's fantasy writer, best known for the Pegasus, Titans and Valkyrie series. O'Hearn published her first book, in 2008, which led to a series of books.
O'Hearn was born in Toronto, Canada, and had three brothers. She was raised mostly in New York City, although she would live in other places in between. She and her family travelled a lot, and during these travels, she was exposed to different cultures that fuelled her imagination and inspired her to start writing. O'Hearn also studied fashion at school, and liked Greek mythology - specifically Pegasus - as a child. While she was growing up, her environments would become the inspiration for her series. For example, she would imagine that Pegasus landed on her roof during a thunderstorm in New York City (Pegasus), or that she was living amongst the whales in the sea, while at the beach (Herm's Secret).[2]
After leaving school, O'Hearn went back to New York and into the fashion industry. However, she wasn't satisfied with her life, and so she went to Europe and split her time between England and France. Wanting to stay away from the fashion industry, she got into film production, one of her loves. However, this didn't work out, and she missed out on a prestigious position on a major film. Sometime after this, she decided to get into writing,[3] with the encouragement of her mother. She entered a story into a contest, but it didn't win, but that didn't deter her. When one of her stories got into a magazine, it was then that she decided to become a writer, full-time.
In 2008, O'Hearn published . A few months later, she wrote a short-story in Wow! 366. In 2010, she published Shadow of the Dragon: Elspeth, the sequel to the 2008 book, and she also published Herm's Secret, a standalone novel. In 2011, O'Hearn published the first book of the Pegasus series: Pegasus and the Flame. A few months later, she released the second book in the Pegasus series: Pegasus and the Fight for Olympus. In 2012, she published the third Pegasus book: Pegasus and the New Olympians, and a few months later, the fourth book: Pegasus and the Origins of Olympus. In 2013, O'Hearn released the first book in the Valkyrie trilogy: Valkyrie. A few months later, she wrote a Pegasus short-story in Animal Writes: An Anthology of Animal Tales, called Pegasus and the Jack-in-the-Green.[4] In 2014, she released the second book in the Valkyrie series: The Runaway. In 2015, she released the fifth Pegasus book: Pegasus and the Rise of the Titans, and in 2016, she published the third and final book of the Valkyrie series: War of the Realms. In 2016, she released the sixth and final book in the Pegasus series: Pegasus and the End of Olympus. In 2019, O'Hearn published the first book in Titans, the sequel series to Pegasus, called Titans. In 2020, she released the second book in the Titans series: The Missing. In mid-2021, O'Hearn published the third and final book in the Titans series: The Fallen Queen, and at the end of the same year, published the first book in her Atlantis series, named Escape from Atlantis.