WELCOME TO KATHRYN SPINK’S OFFICIAL WEBSITE
Kathryn Spink is the author of prize-winning biographies, which have sold worldwide in over fifteen languages. She is the authorized biographer of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, chronicler of the South African women’s human rights organization, the Black Sash, and translator of City of Joy and other books by Dominique Lapierre.
Research for Kathryn Spink’s books has taken her from the slums and ashrams of India to the townships of South Africa, the apartment blocks of Moscow and the nomad tents of the Algerian desert. She was born in a Himalayan hill station and spent her childhood in the British embassies of Bonn and Vienna. She read modern languages at Oxford, then entered the Metropolitan Police and spent three years dealing with crime on the streets of London.
Her writing career began with Colour Library International. Her first publication, an account of the marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, Invitation to a Royal Wedding was a runaway success. Less predictably it led to a book to mark the inauguration of Pope John Paul II and a work about the international mission of Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
For the Brotherhood of Man under the Fatherhood of God – Mother Teresa of Calcutta marked the beginning of an enduring relationship with Mother Teresa and her co-workers and led eventually to permission to write the comprehensively researched Mother Teresa – an authorized biography.
She has frequently given talks on the work and spirituality of the saint of Kolkata and in September 2016, at the invitation of the Apostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, addressed a conference there to celebrate her canonisation.
In 1984 Dominique Lapierre invited Kathryn Spink to translate his best-selling book City of Joy from the French original. The script of the subsequent film starring Pauline Collins and Patrick Swayze was based on her translation.
A love of India and commitment to alleviating the plight of its poor means that she is actively involved with Udayan a home for children affected by leprosy on the outskirts of Kolkata, and is a trustee of the umbrella charity, City of Joy Aid, UK.
She is married and lives in Surrey, England.
Contact email: Kathryn_spink@btinternet.com
