Featured Author: Kate Jaimet

Bibliography at Orca

Slam Dunk: Salvador "Slam" Amaro thinks being the assistant coach of the Brookfield High School girls’ basketball team will be an easy gig. Show up, run a few drills and pad his resumé so he can win a spot on the Ontario Provincial Under-17 team. But Slam’s job suddenly gets a lot harder when the girls’ coach and her daughter vanish after being threatened. Getting to the bottom of their disappearance puts Slam in confrontation with a mysterious stalker. But that’s not his only problem. With the girls facing playoff elimination, Slam has to come up with some new coaching strategies while he battles some competitors for a place on the squad.

Interview

Why do you write and why young adult books? I write because it is a compulsion. As to the genre, I began by writing silly poems for little kids. In hopes of finding a way to publish them, I attended an SCBWI conference in Ottawa and later joined a children’s writing group. Through my involvement with the group, I began writing novels, first a middle-grade novel, and then the YA sports novel that was picked up by Orca. I still haven’t published my silly poems. 

What were your favourite books as a child? The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico

Do you put your family and friends in your books? No, but they do show up in my short stories. I wrote "Edge of Flight" about three rock-climbers that I palled around with in Arkansas. The main character in "Uncle Bernie’s Cabin" is based on a newspaper reporter I knew in Moncton. And "Hockey" was inspired by a boyfriend who jilted me.

What are the best and worst things about writing books? The best thing is letting loose your imagination. The worst thing is being rejected by publishers.

What is your favourite (or funniest) childhood/teenage memory?? My most embarassing teenage sports memory was when our high school soccer team made it to the city-wide championships. We got creamed by our opponents, J.S Woodsworth High School – I think the score was something like 5-0. Their star player was Charmaine Hooper, a striker who later played on the Canadian national team and in the American professional league, WUSA. Defending Charmaine was like confronting a speeding truck. That wasn’t the embarrassing part, though. The embarrassing part was at dinner that night when I had to face down our opponent’s coach – my very own dad!

Biography

Kate Jaimet grew up in Ottawa, Ontario, where her life outside of the classroom revolved around the basketball, volleyball and soccer seasons. After high school, she completed a degree in literary studies from the University of Toronto and a degree in journalism at Ryerson University. She has worked as a newspaper reporter for the Edmonton Journal, the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, and now the Ottawa Citizen. Kate lives in Ottawa with her husband and two daughters. She enjoys canoeing, kayaking, biking, yoga and women's hockey. Slam Dunk is her first book. Visit www.katejaimet.com for more information.