Kathryn Cave was born in Aldershot in Hampshire. She is married and has three children, Eleanor, Joseph and Alice. Kathryn has previously worked as an editor for Penguin and Basil Blackwell and currently deals with children's non-fiction at Frances Lincoln.

In 1997, Kathryn was awarded the very first international UNESCO prize for Children's and Young People's Literature in the Service of Tolerance for Something Else. Something Else was illustrated by Chris Riddell.

She lives with her family in Uxbridge, Middlesex.