Katja (aka Kate Bailward) is a cat-loving, trifle-hating Englishwoman in Sicily.
Before becoming an EFL teacher in 2009, she spent 10 years working as an actor. This fueled her love of storytelling, and started her on the road to narrative writing. Since 2004 she has had various different blog incarnations, all of which have now been deleted for being embarrassingly bad. She hopes to do better with this one.
(Can Kate stop talking in third person now? Yes? Hooray!)
I’m very happy to place sidebar advertising on the blog. However, only for products or services that I feel fit with the overall theme. (Which is pretty wide-ranging, given that I like, and write about, a lot of things, but I’d probably turn down, say, adverts for baby products in China, or for trifle. (Bleurgh.)) I also don’t accept advertorial copy or sponsored posts.
If you have a great product that you’d like me to review, please do let me know. As above, products should fit with the blog and opinions will remain my own. I can’t promise to like it, but I will always give a fair and honest opinion. (See here for an example.)
I’m more than happy to do interviews and guest posts (previous examples listed below). Why not drop me a line so that we can arrange something?
Finally, if you’re interested in hiring me to write for you, please do get in touch to discuss rates and ideas. I look forward to hearing from you.
Specialist subjects:
- Expat life
- Southern Italy
- Creative non-fiction vignettes
- Teaching
Awards/Interviews/Mentions:
- Blogging from the Boot 2009 (winner in 5 categories)
- 20 awesome expat blogs (Matador Network)
- InterNations.org
- EphemeraandDetritus.com
- My-bellavita.com (also syndicated on LonelyPlanet.org)
Guest Posts:
Ciao Kate (aka Katja)!
Where do you live in Southern Italy? I used to live in Lecce for three years. I miss it so very much. Are you still teaching English? I have just found your blog on Facebook and am so enjoying reading it!
Look forward to hearing back from you~
Hi Tess
Nice to ‘meet’ you! I lived in the Salento last year, so I know and love the Lecce area. However, nowadays I’m in the toe, rather than the heel, which has thrown up lots of new challenges and wonderful things. I’m so glad that you’re enjoying reading the blog – if you go back to the beginning you may well find that there are stories about places (or even people!) that you recognise, having been local. What took you to Lecce? Are you an English teacher as well, or did you fall in love with a Salentino? It’s usually either one or the other! ;)
Hello Kate!
My name is Malte Zeeck, and I am with InterNations.org. I really enjoyed reading your fantastic blog! I think expats in Italy and around the world could really gain some great insights [and have a few good laughs] on this page. The quality of the blog in general is very convincing, which is why I would love to feature you and your writing on the Recommended Blog on Italy section on InterNations.org
Not only do we feature and link to your blog prominently; we also would like to hear from you directly in our questionnaire! We have also designed a link badge for your blog.
If you are interested, please feel free to contact me via email: maltezeeck@internations.org
Best,
Malte Zeeck