(Music, m.2001)

Kate van de Borgh is an award-winning writer, who supports organisations trying to find their voice and better communicate with their audience. In 2025, after 20 years of writing for others and years of dabbling in short story writing “for fun”, Kate published her debut novel And He Shall Appear, a ghost story set in a Cambridge College, which The Guardian referred to as a “darkly glamorous debut”.

Kate came up to Corpus in the early 2000s to study music, a brave but nervy northerner, who decided to embrace the opportunity and step out of her comfort zone.

“Coming from a state school in Burnley, I’d never seen a university like Cambridge, and I wasn’t convinced that I’d fit in – everything seemed so beautiful but also so very imposing, and I couldn’t picture myself walking around those incredible courtyards. But I decided that I’d always regret it if I didn’t apply.”

Kate recalls feeling like she was coming in blind, having never visited Corpus and without all the online resources available to today’s applicants, she didn’t know what lay before her.

“I remember my parents driving me to College, all of us wondering what this place was going to be like. When we pulled up at the gates and looked in at New Court – the chapel, looking onto the lawn – we were stunned. The best part was that a lovely student came running over to help me with my bags, and I dared to think that I might have a good time.”

Kate fondly remembers her Director of Studies Ruth Davis and her supervisions with composer Tarik O’Regan, who was the first person to make her feel really inspired in her studies (and who introduced her to some of the ideas that have ended up in her novel).

“The person who stands out most in my memory is our Master, Haroon Ahmed. He was an amazing man, and not just because of his intellect. He had the most astonishing memory when it came to students – he’d recall the tiniest things about people, making them feel special. I remember some of my family members were quite anxious about coming to my graduation, as they thought it would be very formal and intimidating, but Professor Ahmed was so kind and welcoming towards them that they couldn’t help but enjoy themselves. We still talk about how lovely he was that day.”

As well as the many people she encountered at Corpus, including her now husband, Kate warmly remembers her musical escapades, particularly her time as bassoonist in the CUMS II, and many other ensembles, large and small. But for her it is her memories of the everyday activities that really spark joy.

“As much as anything else, I love to remember those slow, ordinary days around College: spending a bit of time in the library, then catching up with friends in the common room and the bar. To be living an ordinary life while surrounded by such extraordinary people, extraordinary architecture, extraordinary ideas, history, research… It’s such a privilege.”

On graduating, unsure what career she wanted to pursue, Kate secured a role working in PR and enjoyed the writing tasks which spurred her on to seek out writing jobs. She went on to work for communications agencies and officially became a professional writer.

“By 2008 I was working in an agency alongside other writers, all of whom had their own creative side hustles, and they encouraged me to get involved in a writing group. This is probably what inspired me to start writing short stories, a couple of which were eventually published by The Fiction Desk.”

In 2014 Kate went freelance, with the idea of setting aside time to spend more time on personal creative projects, but it wasn’t until 2017 that she got to work on her novel. After lots of hard work, and drafts, she signed with an agent and publisher in 2022. The novel was published in January 2025.

“I always loved writing, although any passion was possibly overshadowed by my musical interests. I spent a lot of my spare time in my teens and twenties on music: playing in orchestras, singing in bands, sometimes writing songs too. It was only really after I stopped some of the music that I had time for the creative writing group and all the fiction writing that came after.”

Kate admits her Corpus experience was as a big inspiration for the book which is set in a Cambridge college, and readers who know Corpus might find the space very familiar.

“The book follows an unnamed narrator from a Northern town who struggles to fit in at Cambridge, and I definitely had the same struggle – for a long time, I felt very self-conscious about my broad regional accent, as well as the fact that I came from a state school background. It’s partly why I’m so glad to hear about the Bridging Course, which I know goes a long way in helping people from underrepresented backgrounds to settle in.

“Mine is a horror-ish book, and things don’t end terribly well for my narrator. I suppose, in a way, I’ve given him all my worst fears and allowed them to come true. But I was lucky to have a fantastic bunch of friends at Corpus, and I had some great times in the end.”

Kate is currently working on some new writing and recently returned to Corpus to deliver a writing workshop for some of the budding authors in our student body.