Kathryn Cocquyt

When Katie Cocquyt was a child in Orange County, California, she would gaze up into the night sky and recite “Star light, star bright . . .” and wish for a horse. Years later, she got the gift she had always wished for. Katie named the horse Mardi Gras, and says of it, “She was one of the closest friends that I had.”

After completing a degree in English literature from Cal State Long Beach, Cocquyt worked as an editor at MI Publishing. However, her passion for horses soon led her to Silver Fox Racing Stables at Santa Anita Race Track in Arcadia, California, where she could work with horses full time. There she says she developed many special friendships both human and equine. Today, she divides her time between raising her daughter, riding horses and writing books. She also tours the country speaking to school children about her books.

In Little Freddie at the Kentucky Derby and Little Freddie’s Legacy, Cocquyt combines her love of literature and of horses to create stories that inspire children to face their own challenges in life. Although the real Little Freddie never won the Kentucky Derby, the author’s fond memories of raising the chestnut thoroughbred helped her to write this inspirational story about having the courage to make your dreams come true. Through Freddie and his daughter Baroness, she shows that with strong desire, hard work, and friendship even the loftiest dreams can be attained. The fictional Little Freddie is a horse that wins not because he is necessarily better than the others, but because he is motivated by great confidence and inner strength. Many of the characters in the Little Freddie series, including Little Freddie and Romantic Myth, are actual horses that Cocquyt has owned. Although some of them have now gone on to greener pastures, she still considers it a tremendously fulfilling experience to have known them.

Cocquyt also has a passion for historical novels. The Celtic Heart, takes place during the Roman invasion of Great Britain in A.D. 61. Written from the Celtic point of view, it follows three generations of the Brigantes tribe, who once lived on the island of Anglesey, the last Druidic stronghold. Cocquyt’s most current work is entitled Perihelion. It is a novel about three people: a mistress, a soldier and a politician whose different worlds come together during a time of extremes. It begins in the bawdy, legalized red light district of New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1910 and spans the years leading up to World War I and the Western Front in 1916.

Katie Cocquyt lives in Moorpark, California, with her young daughter, where she rides and shows jumping horses. Her list of her five most favorite things in life is dogs, horses, kids, baseball and bourbon, in that order. Besides that, she loves to cycle and play competitive tennis.