Trinity Author’s Debut Novel to be Published 

Trinity alumna Rachel Chivers Khoo will have her debut children’s book published by the leading children’s book publisher Walker books.

The Wishkeeper’s Apprentice will be published in February 2023, with illustrations in black and white by award-winning Finnish illustrator Teemu Juhani.  The story follows the magical world of wishkeepers, creatures that grant and care for wishes and is aimed at children aged 7 and above.

Rachel Chivers Khoo studied English at Trinity from 2009 to 2012, winning the College’s Richard Hillary Prize for creative writing while she was a student. She says: ‘Books were my inspiration for applying to Oxford (Lewis, Tolkien, Pullman). I wrote creatively almost every day during my time at Trinity, but I was quite private about it. In my final year I entered, and was surprised to win, the Richard Hillary Prize (alongside talented author Tara Isabella Burton). That gave me the encouragement I needed to pursue an MA in Creative Writing and return to my childhood dream of becoming an author. I went on to work in publishing for a number of years, before writing my debut novel The Wishkeeper's Apprentice during maternity leave.’

Rachel has a Masters in Creative Writing from Queen’s University Belfast. She works in book publishing and lives in London.