About K M Peyton
Kathleen Wendy Herald Peyton, who writes as K.M. Peyton is a British author. She has written more than fifty novels, including the much loved Flambards series and its sequels for which she won both the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Award.
She began writing when she was nine, first publishing when she was fifteen under her maiden name of Kathleen Herald; she 'never decided to become a writer...[she]...just was one'. Though she couldn't own a horse (she grew up in London), she was obsessed with them: all her early books are about girls who have ponies. After school, she went to Kingston Art School then Manchester Art School. There she met a another student, Mike Peyton (an ex-serviceman who had been a prisoner of war), who shared her love of walking in the Pennines. They married when she was twenty-one and went travelling around Europe.
When they returned to Britain, Peyton completed a teaching diploma. However, after the birth of her second daughter, she turned to writing fulltime: mostly boy's adventure stories which she sold in serialised form to The Scout magazine, and then published in full. This was when Peyton began writing under K.M. Peyton: the 'M' was her husband Mike who helped create the plots.
The Peytons loved sailing, and her first books were on that subject; soon however, she returned to her 'first love', horses, and began to write what became the Flambards series. When Peyton became involved with horse racing, she used those experiences as further inspiration for writing.
Fidra Books is currently publishing Fly-By-Night with the sequel, The Team expected in the future. Oxford University Press, Usborne Publishing and David Fickling Books also publish her work.
She began writing when she was nine, first publishing when she was fifteen under her maiden name of Kathleen Herald; she 'never decided to become a writer...[she]...just was one'. Though she couldn't own a horse (she grew up in London), she was obsessed with them: all her early books are about girls who have ponies. After school, she went to Kingston Art School then Manchester Art School. There she met a another student, Mike Peyton (an ex-serviceman who had been a prisoner of war), who shared her love of walking in the Pennines. They married when she was twenty-one and went travelling around Europe.
When they returned to Britain, Peyton completed a teaching diploma. However, after the birth of her second daughter, she turned to writing fulltime: mostly boy's adventure stories which she sold in serialised form to The Scout magazine, and then published in full. This was when Peyton began writing under K.M. Peyton: the 'M' was her husband Mike who helped create the plots.
The Peytons loved sailing, and her first books were on that subject; soon however, she returned to her 'first love', horses, and began to write what became the Flambards series. When Peyton became involved with horse racing, she used those experiences as further inspiration for writing.
Fidra Books is currently publishing Fly-By-Night with the sequel, The Team expected in the future. Oxford University Press, Usborne Publishing and David Fickling Books also publish her work.
Series
Flambards
1. Flambards (1968)
2. The Edge of the Cloud (1969)
3. Flambards in Summer (1969)
4. Flambards Divided (1981)
1. Flambards (1968)
2. The Edge of the Cloud (1969)
3. Flambards in Summer (1969)
4. Flambards Divided (1981)
Pennington
1. Pennington's Seventeenth Summer (1970)
aka Pennington's Last Term
2. The Beethoven Medal (1971)
aka If I Ever Marry
3. Pennington's Heir (1973)
4. Marion's Angels (1979)
aka Falling Angels
Pennington: A Trilogy (omnibus) (1985)
1. Pennington's Seventeenth Summer (1970)
aka Pennington's Last Term
2. The Beethoven Medal (1971)
aka If I Ever Marry
3. Pennington's Heir (1973)
4. Marion's Angels (1979)
aka Falling Angels
Pennington: A Trilogy (omnibus) (1985)
Jonathan Meredith
1. Prove Yourself a Hero (1977)
2. A Midsummer Night's Death (1978)
3. Free Rein (1983)
aka The Last Ditch
1. Prove Yourself a Hero (1977)
2. A Midsummer Night's Death (1978)
3. Free Rein (1983)
aka The Last Ditch
Novels
Sabre the Horse from the Sea (1948) (with Kathleen Herald (K M Peyton))
The Mandrake: A Pony (1949) (with Kathleen Herald (K M Peyton))
Crab the Roan (1953) (with Kathleen Herald (K M Peyton))
North to Adventure (1958)
Stormcock Meets Trouble (1961)
The Hard Way Home (1962)
Windfall (1963)
aka Sea Fever
Brownsea Silver (1964)
Sing a Song of Ambush (1964)
The Maplin Bird (1964)
The Plan for Birdsmarsh (1965)
Thunder in the Sky (1966)
A Pattern of Roses (1972)
So Once Was I (1976)
The Right-Hand Man (1977)
Dear Fred (1981)
Going Home (1982)
Who, Sir? Me, Sir? (1983)
Froggett's Revenge (1985)
The Sound of Distant Cheering (1987)
Plain Jack (1988)
Downhill All the Way (1988)
Skylark (1989)
Darkling (1989)
No Roses Round the Door (1990)
Poor Badger (1990)
Late to Smile (1992)
The Boy Who Wasn't There (1992)
The Wild Boy and Queen Moon (1993)
Snowfall (1994)
Mr. Brown (1995)
The Pony That Went to Sea (1997)
Windy Webley (1997)
Unquiet Spirits (1997)
Swallow the Star (1998)
Danger Offshore (1998)
Firehead (1998)
Blind Beauty (1999)
The Scruffy Pony (1999)
The Pied Piper (1999)
The Paradise Pony (1999)
Pony in the Dark (2001)
My Alice (2006)
Blue Skies and Gunfire (2006)
No Turning Back (2008)
Paradise House (2011)
The Mandrake: A Pony (1949) (with Kathleen Herald (K M Peyton))
Crab the Roan (1953) (with Kathleen Herald (K M Peyton))
North to Adventure (1958)
Stormcock Meets Trouble (1961)
The Hard Way Home (1962)
Windfall (1963)
aka Sea Fever
Brownsea Silver (1964)
Sing a Song of Ambush (1964)
The Maplin Bird (1964)
The Plan for Birdsmarsh (1965)
Thunder in the Sky (1966)
A Pattern of Roses (1972)
So Once Was I (1976)
The Right-Hand Man (1977)
Dear Fred (1981)
Going Home (1982)
Who, Sir? Me, Sir? (1983)
Froggett's Revenge (1985)
The Sound of Distant Cheering (1987)
Plain Jack (1988)
Downhill All the Way (1988)
Skylark (1989)
Darkling (1989)
No Roses Round the Door (1990)
Poor Badger (1990)
Late to Smile (1992)
The Boy Who Wasn't There (1992)
The Wild Boy and Queen Moon (1993)
Snowfall (1994)
Mr. Brown (1995)
The Pony That Went to Sea (1997)
Windy Webley (1997)
Unquiet Spirits (1997)
Swallow the Star (1998)
Danger Offshore (1998)
Firehead (1998)
Blind Beauty (1999)
The Scruffy Pony (1999)
The Pied Piper (1999)
The Paradise Pony (1999)
Pony in the Dark (2001)
My Alice (2006)
Blue Skies and Gunfire (2006)
No Turning Back (2008)
Paradise House (2011)
Collections
Pony Stories (1999) (with Carol Fenner and Christine Pullein-Thompson)
Silent Night (2002) (with Joan Aiken, Terence Blacker, Helen Dunmore, Susan Gates, Lesley Howarth, Tony Mitton, Celia Rees, James Swallow and Patrick Wood)
The Swallow Tales (2012)
Silent Night (2002) (with Joan Aiken, Terence Blacker, Helen Dunmore, Susan Gates, Lesley Howarth, Tony Mitton, Celia Rees, James Swallow and Patrick Wood)
The Swallow Tales (2012)
Picture Books
Series contributed to
Non fiction
Awards
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Links to other websites
| K.M. Peyton's Website |
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