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About Katrina

Female forest red-tailed black cockatoo perched on Katrina’s shoulder.
Kaarakin Black Cockatoo Conservation Centre, Perth Hills, Western Australia.

Writing

Katrina Kell is an award-winning Australian writer. Her short stories, poetry and essays have been published in anthologies and literary journals including Westerly, Text, Raudem and Index, and her journalism has appeared in various media, most recently in The Conversation. She is the author of two young adult novels, Juice and Mama’s Trippin’, and in March 2020 she was the winner of an Australian Society of Authors Award Mentorship for her unpublished novel manuscript inspired by Melbourne’s iconic nude painting Chloé. Created by Jules Lefebvre in 1875, Chloé has graced the walls of Young and Jackson Hotel since 1909 and is now a much-loved cultural icon.

The proud mother of four beautiful children, Katrina is also the carer of her youngest daughter Angelina who lives with Down syndrome and autism. A passionate advocate for the rights and inclusion of all children and adults living with disability, she is constantly inspired by Angelina’s achievements, and most of all by her beautiful spirit and cheeky sense of humour.

Katrina lives and works on the unceded lands of the Whadjuk Noongar people.

Always was, always will be, Aboriginal land.

Research

‘Chloé’ graffiti. Place Blanche, Corner of Rue Blanche and Rue Fontaine, Paris. 
Photograph: Katrina Kell

Place Blanche in Montmartre was defended by an all-female battalion during the repression of the Paris Commune in 1871, a violent episode in modern French history when up to 30,000 Parisians were slaughtered by Versailles government troops during Semaine Sanglante (the Bloody Week). Katrina took this photograph on one of her research trips to Paris. She was intrigued by the Chloé graffiti at a site with strong significance to the young model who sat for Chloé (1875).

Cockatoo Whispering

‘The Sentinel’ Carnaby’s Cockatoo
Photograph: Katrina Kell

Katrina is also a passionate cockatoo photographer. Rain, hail or shine, she can be spotted behind a bush with her camera at the ready. A perennial source of inspiration, cockatoos appear in her stories and painted artworks, especially black cockatoos with their crests and stunning tail feathers, and those plaintive yodelling cries that send shivers down her backbone.