Catriona Ward

Catriona Ward was born in Washington, DC and grew up in the United States, Kenya, Madagascar, Yemen, and Morocco. She read English at St Edmund Hall, Oxford and is a graduate of the Creative Writing MA at the University of East Anglia.

Her forthcoming sixth novel, Nowhere Burning, is a retelling of Peter Pan about a community of runaway children who take over a fictional version of Michael Jackson’s abandoned Neverland Ranch. It will be published by Viper books and Tor Nightfire in February 2026.

Esquire magazine said of Ward’s fifth novel, Looking Glass Sound, ‘If there is any justice in this world, Looking Glass Sound will enter the canon of the classic American macabre. It should be read and studied for decades.’ Looking Glass Sound was a USA Today bestseller, one of New York Magazine’s best books of 2023, a Guardian best thriller of 2023, and an Esquire best horror novel of 2023.

Her gothic thriller Sundial (Viper, Tor Nightfire 2022) won the 2023 International Thriller Writers’ Association Award for Best Novel, was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award, was Observer Thriller of the Month and a USA Today, CNN and Apple Books selection for best new fiction. Stephen King called Sundial ‘Authentically terrifying…. Do not miss this book.’

The Last House on Needless Street (Viper, Tor Nightfire 2021) was one of Esquire magazine’s best horror novels of all time. Stephen King said, ‘I was blown away. It’s a true nerve-shredder that keeps its mind-blowing secrets to the very end. Haven’t read anything this exciting since GONE GIRL.’ It has been translated into twenty eight languages, was a Richard and Judy Book Club selection, a Times Book of the Month, Observer Book of the Month, Editor’s Pick on Radio 4’s Open Book, a Between the Covers BBC2 book club selection, a Sunday Times bestseller and won the August Derleth Prize at the British Fantasy Awards. The Last House on Needless Street is being developed for film by Andy Serkis and Jonathan Cavendish’s production company, The Imaginarium.

Ward’s second novel Little Eve (W&N, 2018) won the 2019 Shirley Jackson Award for best novel, the August Derleth Prize for best horror novel at the British Fantasy Awards and was a Guardian best book of 2018.

Catriona Ward’s debut novel Rawblood (W&N, 2015) also won the 2016 August Derleth Award, making her the only woman to win the prize three times. Mike Mignola, creator of the Hellboy comic book series called Rawblood “Brilliant… the old-school gothic novel I have been waiting for… Stunningly original.” Sarah Pinborough called Rawblood “Beautifully written, in equal parts both terrifying and heart-breaking… a dazzlingly brilliant Gothic masterpiece.” Pulitzer Prize for Literature nominee Kelly Link said, “A story to satisfy the most gothic of hearts… Sentence by sentence, Catriona Ward made herself one of my very favourite writers.”

Ward’s short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies and been shortlisted for various prizes. Her latest story will appear in the anthology ‘The End of the World as We Know It: Tales from the Stand,’ which for the first time allows selected authors to expand the world of Stephen King’s THE STAND. The anthology will be published in August 2025 with an introduction by King. Catriona lives in Los Angeles, London and Devon.

Represented by Jenny Savill