Cat White

Catherine Joy White was born to a Jamaican mother and an English father, alongside sister Laura and another sister.^[1][2][3] She grew up in Northampton, but also spent time in Wales and Yorkshire, where her mother and father descended from, respectively.^[2] White later lived between Paris and Geneva intermittently.^[4] White obtained degrees in English and French at the University of Warwick from 2012 to 2016. During her time at Warwick, she taught in Madagascar, worked as an English language assistant at a French secondary school, translated for a French magazine, completed an internship with the UK government and became an intern at UNESCO.^[5] Then from 2016 to 2017, she obtained a Women's Studies degree from the University of Oxford, in which she achieved a high distinction.^[4] She studied at St Edmund Hall where she is now an Honorary Fellow. During this, she continued her work with UNESCO, becoming a freelance contractor specialised in gender work.^[5]

In 2018, White began acting in theatre productions including Shudder, The Watsons and Petroleuse.^[4] Then in 2019, White made her television debut in an episode of the BBC soap opera Doctors.^[6][7] A year later, she set up her own production company, Kusini Productions. The aim of her company is to be a female-led platform created to champion voices of Black women.^[8] In 2021, Dialogue Books signed a deal with White to publish a narrative and an essay collection about Black women.^[9] From 2021 to 2022, White appeared in a recurring role on the Channel 4 comedy series Threesome.^[10][11] In 2022, White was included in Forbes 30 Under 30 list and appeared in the Prime serie Ten Percent.^[12] In 2023, White released her first novel with Dialogue, a non-fiction book that is centred around historical Black women.^[13][14] It received critical acclaim, with i newspaper describing it as "an essential new book".^[15] A chapter of the book is set to be adapted into an animated short film, To My Daughter, which she wrote and will direct. She wrote the chapter after she was enraged about Roe v. Wade was overturned in America.^[16]

• This Thread of Gold (2023)