Wild, Kate 1954-

PERSONAL:

Born 1954, in Leicester, England; partner's name Henri (a designer and video producer); children: two sons.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Leicester, England. Agent—Darley Anderson, Darley Anderson Literary, TV, and Film Agency; Estelle House, 11 Eustace Rd., London SW6 1JB, England. E-mail—kate@katewild.co.uk.

CAREER:

Author and filmmaker. Has also worked at a casino and for a video production company.

WRITINGS:

Fight Game (novel), Chicken House/Scholastic (New York, NY), 2007.

Also author of scripts for videos and documentary films.

SIDELIGHTS:

British filmmaker and screenwriter Kate Wild is the author of Fight Game, a "dark, action-packed tale," according to Paula Rohrlick in Kliatt. The inspiration for the novel came to Wild in 1996 as she worked on a documentary about gypsies and travelers. "Whilst filming two boys whose great uncle was a fighter called the Gypsy King," she noted on her home page, "I had an idea for a story about a traveller boy and fighting."

Fight Game centers on Freedom Smith, a fifteen-year-old Gypsy with superhuman strength and incredible combat skills, which he inherited from his ancestor, Hercules Smith, a legendary bare-knuckles fighter. After defending his family against a group of skin-heads, Freedom is arrested but avoids prison by agreeing to go undercover and infiltrate a shadowy, illegal fighting organization run by Darcus Knight. Freedom soon discovers a subterranean complex known as the Bear Pit where brainwashed, steroid-enhanced runaways battle one another for the amusement of wealthy bettors. Freedom, "a truly peculiar yet likable character, should hold in readers' memories," noted Booklist contributor Ian Chipman, and a Publishers Weekly reviewer observed that the author "imbues her roguish hero with an appealing voice …, and despite the far-fetched elements, the tension produces some authentic thrills."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 15, 2007, Ian Chipman, review of Fight Game, p. 59.

Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 2007, review of Fight Game.

Kliatt, July, 2007, Paula Rohrlick, review of Fight Game, p. 21.

Publishers Weekly, July 30, 2007, review of Fight Game, p. 83.

School Library Journal, December, 2007, Douglas P. Davey, review of Fight Game, p. 148.

ONLINE

Chicken House Web site,http://www.doublecluck.com/ (August 10, 2008), "Kate Wild."

Darley Anderson Web site,http://www.darleyandersonchildrens.com/ (August 10, 2008), interview with Wild.

Kate Wild Home Page,http://www.katewild.com (August 10, 2008).