Meet Cate

Cate is the oldest of the McDermott siblings; and appropriately, the first to have become interested in writing. Or to be exact, storytelling—the younger children of the neighborhood used to sit spellbound in the McDermott backyard listening to her exotic adventure tales (she loves being with kids). Outgoing and talkative, with a strong romantic streak, Cate also loves singing and performing comic roles from Gilbert & Sullivan and other musical shows almost as much as she does her writing and memorizing everything ever written by C.S. Lewis. It is a family joke that Cate cannot hold a conversation on any subject without quoting him at least once. But she loves editing her siblings’ work most of all—grammatical exactness is her speciality. It’s “fewer people” and “less water,” and it’s “greater than I,” not “greater than me.” Of course she doesn’t drive everybody crazy—whatever gave you that idea?

A bit more about Cate . . .

Writing Style: princess novels, historical adventure, literary analysis (see Aslan in Our World study guides)

Other Lives: Cover Supervisor at a secondary school, C. S. Lewis Institute Teaching Fellow for the Aslan Academy

Education: BA in Philosophy from George Mason University, Master of Theological Studies from Wycliffe College at the University of Toronto

Favourite Books:  Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis, Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin by P. G. Wodehouse, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Favourite Authors: C. S. Lewis (no surprise there), P. G. Wodehouse, Shakespeare

Most Influential Authors: C. S. Lewis (giving him a full sweep), Baroness Orczy, Jane Austen

Favourite Film: Bells Are Ringing