Kate Cann, is an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 journalist and writer of fiction

Fiction

Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...

.

Biography

Kate Cann wrote stories and diaries in her youth, and took two degrees in English and American Literature at the University of Kent, B.A., 1977, M.A., 1978. She began work 'in the 1980s...in a publishing house, Time Life Books, as a copy-editor', and when working on a piece of Young Adult fiction decided to herself that she could do better - in her own words, 'got bitten by the "I can do better than this" bug, and started writing...it took me over'. Once Diving In (1983?) was published, she began writing full-time.

Kate Cann currently resides in Wiltshire

Wiltshire

Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...

.

Sources and themes

'Cann drew from personal experience as a former teen, a mother, and an editor familiar with available YA literature, in developing her first book'. By the time she 'ran out of material from my diaries and memories, I realised that my daughter and son were teenagers, and started eavesdropping on them and their friends'.

A prime motivator of her writing was the way 'teenage books...treated sexual relationships: they were either full of gloom and doom, or were gushy, unrealistic candyfloss'. Kate offers by contrast a certain verismo

Verismo

Verismo was an Italian literary movement which peaked between approximately 1875 and the early 1900s....

: 'I focus on the real things that don't change - like love and anger and happiness and jealousy'.

A secondary, but almost equally important theme in her work is the struggle against the (often subtlely) controlling figure. This may be a boyfriend who is 'a control freak

Control freak

In psychology-related slang, control freak is a derogatory term for a person who attempts to dictate how everything around them is done — "a control freak. Scared to let us have differences"...

. Scared to let us have differences'; a "Best Friend" for imitation - 'I flattered her, I...mirrored her and buoyed her up'; or a parent like the heroine's mother in Hard Cash: 'A real living breathing human vampire. She's feeding off you...turning on the emotional blackmail

Emotional blackmail

Emotional blackmail is a term used to cover a central form of psychological manipulation - 'the use of a system of threats and punishment on a person by someone close to them in an attempt to control their behavior'. "Emotional blackmail.....

 at full power'. Alternatively, the controlling force - "denying the separateness of the other" - may be a group cult, whether a formal one (Speeding) or an informal subculture

Subculture

In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...

, like the hero's 'bond to the team...their triumphant, tribal energy' in Leader of the Pack.

Such controlling powers may be seen as externalisations of the adolescent's quest for identity achievement, in the face of both inner and outer obstacles. Cann's protagonists, under both social and sexual pressures, regularly face the alternative peril of identity diffusion: 'You're not you any longer, you're what he wants you to be. A shadow person, a non-person, no centre, no wholeness. Just a limp hotchpotch of what someone else once wanted you to be'.

Despite such dangers, Cann's own predilection remains nonetheless firmly for engagement with life - for "diving in"; and even when her heroes do temporarily trade in their own identities for an externally formulated one - whether 'a dream of money' or a social group, 'the team and everything' - they typically conclude, '"Well, I don't wish it hadn't happened"'; '"I'm glad I was part of it. It's part of me now...and I'm glad about that too'.

Young adult fiction

Diving In

Diving In

Diving In is a 1990 American film directed by Strathford Hamilton and starring Matt Adler.-Plot summary:Wayne Hopkins, a High School diver afraid of heights, enlists a previous women's Olympic coach.-Cast:*Matt Adler as Wayne Hopkins...

  [Ready?]

In the Deep End  [Sex]

Sink or Swim [Go!]
Moving Out [Hard Cash]

Moving In [Shacked Up]

Moving On [Speeding]

Footloose [Grecian Holiday]

Fiesta [Spanish Holiday]

Escape [California Holiday]

Sea Change [Mediterranean Holiday]

Leaving Poppy

Leaving Poppy

Leaving Poppy is a young adult thriller/horror novel by Kate Cann, published in 2006. It won the 2008 Angus Book Award and was shortlisted for the 2007 Booktrust Teenage Prize.- Part one :...

Leader of the Pack

Leader of the Pack

"Leader of the Pack" is a 1964 pop song recorded by girl group The Shangri-Las. It became number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 28, 1964.-Original Shangri-Las recording:...

Crow Girl

Crow Girl Returns

Possessing Rayne [Possessed]

Fire and Rayne [Consumed]