Catrin Collier

Collier is of East Prussian descent, with her mother, Gerda Salewski, born in Allenstein, East Prussia, in 1926.

Her father, Glyn Jones, was a Welsh Guardsman serving in Germany when he met Gerda.

They were married in Pontypridd in July 1947.

Karen Watkins (née Jones, born 1948), writing as Catrin Collier, is a Welsh novelist known for her historical works, especially those in the Hearts of Gold series, set in her home town of Pontypridd between 1930 and 1950, the first of which was adapted as a BBC drama in 2003.

She also writes under the pen names Katherine John / K. A. John (crime novels), Katherine Hardy (novelisations of television programmes) and Caro French (modern fiction).

Collier was born there in 1948 and grew up in the town.

As a comprehensive school teacher, she taught English and drama to A level in schools in Swansea and West Glamorgan.

Her book One last Summer is based on war-time diaries kept by her mother and maternal grandmother.

and is recommended by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust for young people wanting to learn about the Holocaust.

Ty Catrin, an adult education centre in Pontypridd, was named in her honour in 2002.

Collier's work includes:

In 2003, Hearts of Gold was adapted by BBC Wales as a two-part drama, directed by Richard Laxton and co-written by Matthew Baylis.

BBC Wales' head of drama Matthew Robinson described her as "the Catherine Cookson of Wales".

As well as novels, she writes short stories, plays and non-fiction, and has had work published in magazines including published in Woman, Woman's Own and Woman's Weekly.

After living in Germany and America, Collier now lives on the Gower Peninsula, near Swansea.

She is represented by the literary agency Marjacq Scripts.

She is a member of Swansea Writers' Group, which encouraged her from the outset of her career before she had published a novel.

It was a 2008 finalist for the Romantic Novelists' Association's Book of the Year.