20 ratings | 14 reviews | avg rating:4.90

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Cat Winters

Goodreads Author

Born

Lynwood, California, The United States

Website

http://www.catwinters.com

Twitter

catwinters

Genre

Historical Fiction, Paranormal

Influences

Edgar Allan Poe, Sarah Waters, Margaret Atwood, Daphne du Maurier ...more

Member Since

October 2011

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/catwinters

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Cat Winters is a critically acclaimed, award-winning author of five novels for teens: IN THE SHADOW OF BLACKBIRDS, THE CURE FOR DREAMING, THE STEEP AND THORNY WAY, ODD & TRUE, and THE RAVEN'S TALE. She has been named a Morris Award finalist, a Bram Stoker Award nominee, and an Oregon Spirit Book Award winner, and her young adult novels have appeared on Kirkus, School Library Journal, and Booklist best-of-the-year lists, as well as numerous state lists. She is also the author of two novels for adults, THE UNINVITED and YESTERNIGHT, and she contributed to the young adult horror anthology SLASHER GIRLS & MONSTER BOYS. Her debut picture book, CUT!: HOW LOTTE REINIGER AND A PAIR OF SCISSORS REVOLUTIONIZED ANIMATION, written as C.E. Winters, will ...more

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Popular Answered Questions

I am from Portland, Oregon and loved recognizing it in your books! How did you research what it was like in 1900 in Portland, for "The Cure for Dreaming"?

Cat Winters I love hearing from Portlanders who enjoyed seeing the city represented in the novel! I used various research methods to learn what life was like in 1…moreI love hearing from Portlanders who enjoyed seeing the city represented in the novel! I used various research methods to learn what life was like in 1900 Portland. Thankfully, organizations such as the Oregon Historical Society and the University of Oregon Libraries have preserved countless historical documents that can be easily read both online and at research archives, so I spent a great deal of time sorting through photos and papers from the past. I also read through scanned copies of The Oregonian from the specific dates used in the novel, which was EXTREMELY helpful in researching daily life in the city during that moment in time. Being a local, I traveled through the city and photographed the historical sites that still exist, as well as the tiny fragments of reminders of long-gone sites (such as the Portland Hotel, which formally stood at the site of Pioneer Square). I also read various books about the city, including Portland: People, Politics, and Power, 1851-2000, by Jewel Lansing, and Wicked Portland: The Wild and Lusty Underworld of a Frontier Seaport Town, by Finn J.D. John. To learn about the local suffrage movement in the late 1800s, I pored over Yours for Liberty: Selections from Abigail Scott Duniway's Suffrage Newspaper, edited by Jean M. Ward and Elaine A. Maveety.

You can catch a little bit more about my research on a recent episode of Oregon Art Beat that aired in October: http://www.opb.org/television/program....

Thanks for asking!(less)

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What are you currently working on?

Cat Winters I'm currently working on a few projects. My next book will be an adult novel called THE UNINVITED (HarperCollins, August 2015), and I'm waiting for th…moreI'm currently working on a few projects. My next book will be an adult novel called THE UNINVITED (HarperCollins, August 2015), and I'm waiting for the last of the edits for that one. Also in the works are a short story for the YA horror anthology SLASHER GIRLS & MONSTER BOYS (Penguin, August 2015) and a third YA novel, THE STEEP AND THORNY WAY(Abrams, Spring 2016). Plus I've just started writing a top-secret new book. (less)

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Cat Winters’s books

Average rating: 3.82 · 37,564 ratings · 7,072 reviews · 9 distinct works • Similar authors

	In the Shadow of Blackbirds 3.85 avg rating — 13,429 ratings — published 2013 — 18 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Slasher Girls & Monster Boys by April Genevieve Tucholke (Editor and Contributor), Stefan Bachmann (Goodreads Author), Leigh Bardugo (Goodreads Author) 3.87 avg rating — 9,401 ratings — published 2015 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Cure for Dreaming 3.90 avg rating — 6,447 ratings — published 2014 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Uninvited 3.69 avg rating — 3,258 ratings — published 2015 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Yesternight 3.50 avg rating — 2,192 ratings — published 2016 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Steep & Thorny Way 3.86 avg rating — 1,606 ratings — published 2016 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Odd & True 3.66 avg rating — 1,531 ratings — published 2017 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Raven's Tale 3.59 avg rating — 1,240 ratings — published 2019 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	[In the Shadow of Blackbirds] [By: Winters, Cat] [April, 2013] by Cat Winters (Goodreads Author), Unknown Author 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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326 posts
Cat Winters's Blog

Two New Poems in YA Poetry Anthology YOU'RE NEVER TOO MUCH

I'm thrilled to announce that two of my brand-new poems, "Hope" and "An Octopus Dwells Inside My Head," will appear in the YA poetry anthology You're Never Too Much: Poems for Every Emotion . The collection of poetry, edited by Charlie Castelletti, will release from First Ink/Pan Macmillan on September 4, 2025.

Pre-orders for the book are available now.

The hardcover edition of the a

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Cat Winters wrote a new blog post Two New Poems in YA Poetry Anthology YOU'RE NEVER TOO MUCH I'm thrilled to announce that two of my brand-new poems, "Hope" and "An Octopus Dwells Inside My Head," will appear in the YA poetry anthology You' Read more of this blog post »
Aug 20, 2025 12:56AM · like

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Quotes by Cat Winters (?)

“Why can't a girl be smart without it being explained away as a rare supernatural phenomenon?”
― Cat Winters, In the Shadow of Blackbirds

tags: feminism, girls, intelligence, sexism

54 likes

“Don’t ever worry what the boys who don’t appreciate originality think of you. They’re fools.”
― Cat Winters, In the Shadow of Blackbirds

tags: boys

53 likes

“I love that books allow us to experience other lives without us ever having to change where we live or who we are.”
― Cat Winters, The Cure for Dreaming

tags: books

48 likes

See all Cat Winters's quotes »

Polls

What book would you like to read in January?

Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler

23 votes, 22.1%

Going Vintage by Lindsey Leavitt

15 votes, 14.4%

The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour

14 votes, 13.5%

In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters

14 votes, 13.5%

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley

10 votes, 9.6%

Through to You by Emily Hainsworth

8 votes, 7.7%

Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge

8 votes, 7.7%

Picture the Dead by Adele Griffin

7 votes, 6.7%

Top 8 by Katie Finn

3 votes, 2.9%

Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan

2 votes, 1.9%

104 total votes

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Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Free Books, .99, ...: YA Historical Fiction Giveaways All Month!	2	53	Apr 23, 2013 10:45AM
Historical Fictio...: Summer Vacation Challenge: Jun/Jul 2013 - Scoring Thread	147	158	Aug 04, 2013 05:22PM
The Seasonal Read...: Summer Challenge 2013: Completed Tasks (DO NOT DELETE POSTS)	2503	771	Aug 31, 2013 09:04PM
Young Adult Histo...: Group Read Nominations - March 2014	8	18	Feb 28, 2014 01:14PM
Historical Fictio...: TBR Challenge: May 2014 - Reading Lists (Mount TBRs)	29	134	Apr 30, 2014 08:54PM
Reading with Style: SP 2014 RwS Completed Tasks - Spring 2014	1052	207	May 31, 2014 09:05PM
Listomania: Your Favorite Reads 2013	67	332	Jun 06, 2014 03:13PM
Romance Readers R...: 2014 Read the Season Welsh Edition: GWANWYN (Spring)	99	346	Jun 30, 2014 01:36PM
Crazy for Young A...: #7 Readathon: Extra & Optional Challenge!	24	69	Jul 09, 2014 02:37PM

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Cat’s Quotes

“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.”
― Madeleine L'Engle

tags: books, children, difficult, grown-ups, write, writers, writing

16930 likes

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”
― George Eliot

tags: inspirational, misattributed, source-unknown

33819 likes

“I nearly always write just as I nearly always breathe.”
― John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

32 likes

Cat’s Friend Comments

Comments (showing 1-4) post a comment »

date

newest »

message 4: by Cat

Apr 21, 2013 09:28PM

Thank you so much, Kim! I'm thrilled you enjoyed it. Your note made my day!

reply | flag

message 3: by Kim

Apr 21, 2013 05:42PM

Thank you for your friendship! In the Shadow of Blackbirds is the best book I've read in a very long time. Absolutely loved it and can't wait for your next book!

reply | flag

message 2: by Cat

Apr 18, 2013 08:55AM

Genie wrote: "Thanks for accepting my friend request :)
Your novel In the Shadow of Blackbirds looks fantastic and I can't wait to discover more of your work"

Thank you, Genie! :)

reply | flag

message 1: by Eugenia (Genie In A Book)

Apr 17, 2013 05:11PM

Thanks for accepting my friend request :)
Your novel In the Shadow of Blackbirds looks fantastic and I can't wait to discover more of your work

reply | flag

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326 posts
Cat Winters's Blog

Two New Poems in YA Poetry Anthology YOU'RE NEVER TOO MUCH

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Cat Winters’s Followers (1,557)

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