Kate van de Borgh is an award-winning writer, who supports organisations trying to find their voice and better communicate with their audience. In 2025, after 20 years of writing for others and years of dabbling in short story writing “for fun”, Kate published her debut novel And He Shall Appear, a ghost story set in a Cambridge college, which The Guardian referred to as a “darkly glamorous debut”. Earlier this year, she returned to Corpus to deliver a writing workshop for our students, and we took the opportunity to catch up with her on life after Corpus, writing her first novel and what it’s like to return to her college in a teaching role.

Tell us a bit about your journey from music student at Corpus to published author.

It was a fairly twisty path, I suppose. After graduating, I wasn’t sure what to do with myself, and I ended up getting a job in PR. I enjoyed the writing tasks that everyone else seemed to hate – producing press materials, Q&As, case studies – and I started to wonder whether I should look into writing as a job. From there, I went to work for communications agencies and officially became a professional writer.

By 2008 I was working in an agency alongside other writers, all of whom had their own creative side hustles, and they encouraged me to get involved in a writing group. This is probably what inspired me to start writing short stories, a couple of which were eventually published by The Fiction Desk. In 2014 I went freelance, with the idea of setting aside time to spend more time on personal creative projects, but it wasn’t until 2017 that I actually started working on the novel. 

In early 2022 (after many, many drafts) I signed with my brilliant agent, and she found me my dream publisher later that year. The novel finally came out in January 2025.

Have you always had a passion for writing?

I always loved writing, although any passion was possibly overshadowed by my musical interests. When I was a kid, I used to write stories on my parents’ BBC computer and print them out (on that continuous printer paper, with perforations down each side). One early work was a sequel to The Lion King, which opened with quite a grisly death scene as I recall. 

But I spent a lot of my spare time in my teens and twenties on music: playing in orchestras, singing in bands, sometimes writing songs too. It was only really after I stopped some of the music that I had time for the creative writing group and all the fiction writing that came after.

Was the College a big inspiration for your book?

Oh, absolutely. My book is (mostly) set in a Cambridge college, and readers who know Corpus might find the space very familiar… 

Also, the book follows an unnamed narrator from a Northern town who struggles to fit in at Cambridge, and I definitely had the same struggle – for a long time, I felt very self-conscious about my broad regional accent, as well as the fact that I came from a state school background. It’s partly why I’m so glad to hear about the Bridging Course, which I know goes a long way in helping people from underrepresented backgrounds to settle in.

Mine is a horror-ish book, and things don’t end terribly well for my narrator. I suppose, in a way, I’ve given him all my worst fears and allowed them to come true. But I was lucky to have a fantastic bunch of friends at Corpus, and I had some great times in the end.

Do you have any more books in the pipeline?

I’m working on something at the moment, but it’s much too early to say whether it will become a Book Two or not – I’m still in the experimental stages. When I have any news, you’ll be the first to know.

Why did you decide to do the workshop?

When I started working on my novel back in 2017, I knew absolutely nothing about how to write a book or how to go about getting it published. For instance, I didn’t know what kind of strategies writers used when it came to plotting or editing something as expansive as a novel. And I didn’t know exactly what agents and editors did, let alone how you might go about finding representation.

Going through the publication process taught me a huge amount, and I hoped that I might be able to share what I’d learned with others who were themselves hoping to publish one day. That caveat, though: as a debut author, I’m still learning all the time.

What was it like to return to your college in the role of educator? Do you think much has changed since you were a student here?

It’s always good to come back to College, and I visit pretty much every year with my husband (we met at Corpus back in 2001). The space is so much the same that it feels like going back in time. Perhaps that’s partly why I don’t feel so much like an educator – I still feel like a student! Especially as I’m a debut author and still very much learning. Telling the students about my experience in publishing feels a bit like telling a supervision group about some research I’ve been doing.

Were you surprised by anything the students had to say/ask?

I was really impressed that some attendees were already working on their own novels, and I loved hearing how they were tackling the inevitable challenges that come with writing long fiction. They had some brilliant ideas.

I was also pleased that the students threw themselves into the writing exercises and were generous enough to share their work with the wider group. Sharing rough drafts can feel very exposing and painful, but it’s usually extremely helpful. It’s fantastic that the students were so game.

Do you enjoy teaching/helping others realise their potential?

Yes, very much. My parents were both teachers, and I always thought theirs was the last job I wanted to do – maybe because I heard them complaining about their daily stresses! But when I worked in agencies, I always enjoyed running writing workshops. It’s lovely to see people discover that, actually, they’re more creative and capable than they thought they were. The thing about writing is that everyone can develop their skills. Yes, some lucky people simply have bags of natural talent. But, by learning lessons from great writers, we can all improve our craft.

Any advice for your younger self on coming to study at Corpus?

Hmmm. In terms of my studies, I’d tell myself: stop trying to get things right. I always read my key texts diligently and I scribbled down everything my lecturers said, as if I might catch the ‘correct’ answers between the pages of my notebook. But I didn’t take risks, and I didn’t go wandering off down the slightly-sideways academic avenues that interested me. So, although I did pretty well academically, I could probably have got more from my studies by being a bit more curious and playful.

At the same time, I’d say: don’t worry so much. It’s all going to be fine.

Kate's novel is available here