About
Cathrine Sarah Solanki
Children’s books have the unique ability to shape how young readers understand themselves, their relationships, and the world around them. In a recent PublishU podcast interview, author Kate Solanki shared the heart behind her book Granny’s Wedding, a gentle story that helps children explore faith, identity, and the meaning of being deeply loved.
The conversation revealed how her decades of youth work, life experience, and personal faith inspired a story designed not only to entertain children but also to encourage them to feel secure, valued, and connected.
Kate Solanki lives in Somerset in the United Kingdom and has spent over 25 years working with young people. Her work has evolved from traditional church-based youth programmes to meeting children directly in their communities, often reaching those who feel unseen or unsupported.
Through these years of working with teenagers and families, she noticed how many young people struggle with belonging and self-worth. Emotional resilience, she explains, often needs to be built before any learning can take place. Children need to feel safe and loved before they can truly grow.
These insights shaped her writing journey. For years, she assumed that if she ever wrote a book, it would be aimed at adults. But a turning point came when someone observed that her writing style felt naturally suited to children’s storytelling. That realisation sparked the idea for Granny’s Wedding, and the story began to take shape.
Granny’s Wedding is aimed at children roughly between the ages of eight and eleven. At its centre is a warm and relatable conversation between a grandmother and her granddaughter. As the young girl asks questions about Granny’s wedding day, the discussion gently expands into a reflection on love, faith, trust, and life’s deeper meaning.
Using the imagery of a wedding, Kate explores the idea that love grows from security and trust. The grandmother explains how her relationship with Jesus shaped her life, helped her grow in confidence, and gave her peace about the future.
This framing allows spiritual themes to be introduced naturally, through storytelling rather than instruction. Children encounter ideas about belonging, purpose, and identity through a family conversation they can easily understand and relate to.
During the podcast interview, Kate spoke about how young people today often face intense pressure from social media, cultural expectations, and the constant comparison that shapes their self-image. Many children grow up feeling they need to be perfect in order to be valued.
Her hope for Granny’s Wedding is to offer a different message: that children are already loved, already valued, and already seen. The story encourages readers to understand that their worth does not depend on achievement or appearance, but on being known and loved.
She believes these truths are best shared early in life, before insecurity becomes deeply rooted. By introducing these themes in a gentle, hopeful story, she hopes to plant seeds of confidence and faith in young readers.
Like many first-time authors, Kate admitted that the most difficult part of writing the book was not the storytelling itself, but finding the courage to share it with others. Showing the manuscript to someone for the first time felt vulnerable and intimidating.
However, the positive response she received encouraged her to move forward, and eventually the book was published and made available worldwide. Reflecting on the journey, she described a mixture of excitement and nervousness — a feeling familiar to many creative people who release personal work into the world.
That vulnerability, however, is part of what makes stories meaningful. When authors share something authentic, readers are often able to connect with it on a deeper level.
Ultimately, Kate hopes that children who read Granny’s Wedding will feel safe, loved, and encouraged. She wants young readers to understand that they do not need to measure themselves against unrealistic standards or chase perfection to be valued.
Instead, she hopes the story will help them recognise their identity, embrace their uniqueness, and walk confidently into the future knowing they are loved.
For parents, grandparents, and educators, the book also serves as a helpful conversation starter — a gentle way to discuss faith, belonging, and life’s bigger questions with children.
The podcast interview also serves as inspiration for aspiring writers. Kate’s journey shows that writing a book does not require a lifelong dream or formal training. Sometimes the right story simply emerges at the right moment in life.
Her experience demonstrates how personal passion, lived experience, and a desire to help others can combine to create a meaningful book. It also highlights how storytelling can be a powerful way to influence the next generation.
Granny’s Wedding is more than a children’s story. It is a reminder that stories can nurture identity, inspire confidence, and introduce young readers to deeper truths about love, belonging, and purpose.
By sharing her journey on the PublishU podcast, Kate Solanki offers both a heartfelt message for families and an encouraging example for anyone considering writing their own book.
Stories have the power to shape lives — and sometimes, the simplest stories can leave the deepest impact.
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