University of Sunderland graduate publishes debut novel
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A University of Sunderland graduate has published her debut novel at the age of 40 as she marks the end of her PhD.
Katie Mitchelson’s debut novel is now available to buy from a number of retailers after writing the story as part of her PhD thesis.
The book, titled Wrecked and published by Indie Novella, is a young adult science fiction and fantasy novel about teenagers who are given brain implants that read their thoughts to try and help them recover from trauma.
Katie, who works in children’s services, said: “It’s a young adult fiction novel about teenagers that are given brain implants that read their thoughts and help them recover from trauma, but then they get mixed up in a world of criminal exploitation.”
Speaking about the inspiration behind the novel, Katie, who studied her PhD at the University of Sunderland, said: "It really started when I began researching how we write and why we write what we do.
"For my masters, I wrote a proposal on how I’d contribute to the debate, and that’s when I got picked and started my PhD.
"I ended up writing Wrecked as a bookend to the whole thing.”
Writing is something Katie has always done but it was not until she started studying her masters degree at Teesside University around six years ago that she “really got into it”.
Katie, who is from Hartlepool, said: "I actually published it last year so I’ve kind of gotten used to the idea of it now but it’s still exciting.”