Katrin Costa was born and raised in East Germany, where freedom was limited and many of life’s choices were made within boundaries she did not choose. In 1989, at the age of twenty, she left East Germany and began a journey that would eventually take her to Australia.
She arrived in Australia in August 1994, at twenty-five, unable to speak or understand English. Over the years that followed, she built a new life, learned the language, developed a business career, and continued to study writing, psychology and personal development. Cairns has been her home since 2003 and is now the place she has lived longer than anywhere else.
The Girl in the Purple Jacket is her debut novel. Inspired by her own experiences, it explores freedom, identity, courage, love and the choices that shape a life.
Katrin writes in English — a language she once could not understand — and believes that the simplest words can sometimes carry the deepest truths.