Kat Ilich lives in Mackay, North Queensland with her husband, Tony, son, Percy, daughter, Fleur, and dogs, Lionel and Lara. In 2007 she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Distinction), majoring in Sociology, Communications and Film from Central Queensland University. More recently (May, 2022), Kat graduated with a Masters in Secondary Education (Distinction), and currently works as an English and Media Arts teacher servicing her greater local region.

Kat has intently studied the realms of professional and creative writing, along with script/play writing for the stage and screen. She has worked in a number of media and communications roles for large-scale construction and performing arts companies, as well as an actor/model throughout Queensland, where she further extended her studies in the field of commercial Film and Television production. Since becoming a parent, Kat has discovered that some of her most valuable life experiences have occurred whilst being dedicated to the field of Education – particularly through supporting students that have adopted English as an additional language/dialect, and those who experience cognitive learning challenges in a traditional school setting. As a parent of a captivating child with dyslexia, Kat’s mission is to highlight the joy of storytelling through the creation of characters that are easy to identify with, showcase a myriad of age-appropriate concerns and emotions through choice and action, and demonstrate instances whereby the young reader can witness the resolution of faced complexities (within the plot), through abstract resilience and unique problem-solving strategies.

Kat's true passion – “through meaningful text, we fuel an unbounded opportunity to grow emotionally, developmentally, and ‘heartfully’”.