Welcome to the website for Katie Khan, author of acclaimed speculative fiction novels Hold Back the Stars and The Light Between Us.

Hello, I’m Katie.

I write speculative fiction – stories that imagine what the world will look like one or two steps beyond where we are now. I like to imagine the impossible and make it possible, even if only on the page!

I live in London, love to read, and I’m Creative Director at the online writing school The Novelry. I spent fifteen years in the film industry at major studios including Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures working on science fiction and fantasy films. So far, I’ve published two novels with Penguin Random House.

Discover more about my books, read the latest news on the blog, and contact me right here on my website.

Warmly,

All author photography by Sharron Gibson.

Photo of speculative fiction author Katie Khan who wrote Hold Back the Stars pictured at home with her cat Artie Flufkin reading books
Notes from the Near Future a Substack by Katie Khan

My books

Books by author Katie Khan include Hold Back the Stars and The Light Between Us, speculative and science fiction featuring a utopia and characters called Carys and Max

Hold Back the Stars

Hold Back the Stars by Katie Khan a futuristic novel about space and European utopia by Katie Khan

A few years from now, not too far in the future, two people meet.
It’s a classic story of boy meets girl. 
Except that it’s not.
When we find them, they have an hour and a half left.
Unless they can save themselves, they won’t survive.
The clock is ticking.

Bittersweet and life-affirming, Hold Back the Stars is the love story of the year.

  • “A high-stakes, high-concept love story from a bold new talent”

    — Matt Haig, author of The Midnight Library

  • “The most unique love story I’ve read in years”

    — Rowan Coleman, author of The Summer of Impossible Things

  • “A beautiful, moving, truly original tale. I loved this book for taking me by surprise”

    — Renee Knight, author of Disclaimer

  • “Dazzling... A truly stellar debut, full of wonder and heart”

    — Emma Jane Unsworth, author of Animals

  • “Terrific – a beautiful story”

    — Samantha Shannon, author of The Priory of the Orange Tree

  • “Gorgeous, brilliant, heartbreaking... a love story to remember”

    — Debbie Howells, author of The Bones of You

  • “Imaginatively assured, Hold Back the Stars packs real emotional punch”

    — Laline Paull, author of The Bees

  • “Hauntingly beautiful and totally unique”

    — Sarah J. Harris, author of The Colour of Bee Larkham’s Murder

UK – paperback

UK – paperback

UK – hardback

UK – hardback

Chinese

Chinese

Chinese

Chinese

USA – hardback

USA – hardback

USA – paperback

USA – paperback

German

German

Japanese

Japanese

Spanish – first edition

Spanish – first edition

Spanish – second edition

Spanish – second edition

Portuguese – Brazil

Portuguese – Brazil

Portuguese – Portugal

Portuguese – Portugal

Turkish

Turkish

French – first edition

French – first edition

French – second edition

French – second edition

Bulgarian

Bulgarian

Dutch

Dutch

Russian

Russian

Slovak

Slovak

Czech

Czech

Polish

Polish

Lithuanian

Lithuanian

Serbian

Serbian

Italian – first edition

Italian – first edition

Italian – second edition

Italian – second edition

Korean

Korean

Hungarian

Hungarian

“The new One Day”

— Stylist

“An incredibly imaginative debut”

— Sunday Mirror

“Melds an emotional love story with a tale of a space mission gone very wrong”

— Guardian

“Intriguing and moving – a love story that’s out of this world ★★★★”

— Sunday Express

“An edge-of-your-seat tale”

— Vogue

“A tense survival story with an unexpected ending ★★★★”

— The Sun

“Original, surprising and romantic”

— Woman and Home

“As thought provoking as it is wrenching, prepare to shed tears ★★★★”

— Heat

“A space romance with a political edge”

— Irish Times

“Gravity meets The Versions of Us”

— Red Magazine

“A unique take on the usual dystopian fiction... a worthy read which will keep you up past bedtime ★★★★”

— Sci-Fi Now

“Just the ticket if you’re looking to get lost in a breathless love story”

— Grazia

Hold Back the Stars is being adapted for film by the producers of Stranger Things.

The Light Between Us

The Light Between Us book by Katie Khan is a time travel novel set in Oxford about Thea and Isaac shelved as science fiction or speculative fiction

Thea and Isaac have always been friends, despite his constant jokes, despite her stubborn belief in time travel . . . Despite the distance between them.

But when Isaac returns home from New York when their friend goes missing, suddenly things aren’t as they were. Something is different.

Thea and Isaac have always been friends. But maybe that wasn’t how it was supposed to be.

  • “Stunning, mesmerising and intricately beautiful. This book is a diamond”

    — Carrie Hope Fletcher, actress and author of When the Curtain Falls

  • “A book that feels both intimate and vast… It weaves sci-fi, mystery and romance into a vivid and enthralling tapestry”

    — Gavin Extence, author of The Universe Versus Alex Woods

  • “Gripping, fascinating, funny, romantic, exciting, and hopeful with a great cast of women, The Light Between Us is a cracking good read”

    — Rowan Coleman, author of The Summer of Impossible Things

  • “Brave, original and more than a little heartbreaking”

    — Fiona Harper, author of The Other Us

  • “Full of friendship, romance and hope, The Light Between Us asks what truly defines who we are – and who we love”

    — Maggie Harcourt, author of The Last Summer of Us

  • “An intriguing and wonderfully told story full of brilliant women, friendship, love, art and time travel. Perfect for fans of The Time Traveller’s Wife and Sliding Doors.”

    — Lydia Ruffles, author of The Taste of Blue Light

One of Woman and Home’s thirty of the best romance books

“Pay close attention: this is a ‘will they, won’t they’ tale with a jaw-dropping twist”

— Sunday Express

One of Red Magazine’s ten books to read this summer

“A remarkable reading
experience ★ ★ ★ ★ ★”

— Heat

“Sure to have you weeping”

— Grazia

“A love story with a great twist that takes it beyond a classic ‘will they, won’t they?’”

— Stylist

Outtake of author and writer Katie Khan laughing while writing a novel after her first books Hold Back the Stars and The Light Between Us
Author Katie Khan's cat Artie Flufkin photographed by Sharron Gibson in London
Katie Khan the author of Hold Back the Stars and The Light Between Us photographed by Sharron Gibson in London with a stack of books

Find out more about me including my favourite books, my cat, where I work and how to contact me.

Photograph of author and writer Katie Khan laughing taken by Sharron Gibson photographer
Books by Katie Khan include Hold Back the Stars and The Light Between Us published by Penguin Random House as speculative fiction and books being adapted for films

Instagram

Morning tea spot (don’t zoom in too much or you’ll spot I’m wearing Crocs)
Space-based novels winning the Booker? Never in my life, etc. I read Orbital back in April, a little each night for a week. It’s short but not quick, if you know what I mean. Meditative rather than plotty. With stunning prose! #Orbital #Saman
Max Richter played the whole of The Blue Notebooks in London tonight, with Tilda Swinton reading her part and Celeste singing the Dinah Washington This Bitter Earth/On the Nature of Daylight mashup (a world premiere performance). Oh my god, it was me
I stole my sister’s many Jilly Cooper novels back in the Nineties so it was only right, thirty years later, to repay the favour: a night out seeing Jilly in conversation with the actors from Rivals! @amberhasnectar and I were in raptures; Jilly
Wednesday. Hump day. Cat!
I made a decision last year that I would share photos online if I looked happy in them, because most of us look back fondly on happy moments and worry less about our appearance in retrospect, and this image with my beautiful @krystlezara definitely f