Kathryn Apel is a born-and-bred farm girl who's scared of cows. She lives among the gum trees, cattle and kangaroos on a Queensland grazing property. The Bird in the Herd is Kat's second picture book, following her rollicking rural rhymer This is the Mud.

She has also written three verse novels, including Bully on the Bus, winner of the 2014 Australian Family Therapists' Award for Children's Literature, and a 2019 NCSS and CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People (America).

Kat loves pumping poetry because she can flex her muscles across other genres, to bend (and break) writing rules. A trained teacher, Kathryn shares her passion for words at schools and festivals around the globe.