Katy Bevan: Craft, Community, and the heart of Quickthorn Books

Quickthorn Books was founded by commissioning editor Katy Bevan in 2022, following a long career in writing, teaching, and publishing. Katy’s vision for Quickthorn is rooted in her lifelong passion for sustainability, accessibility, and the deep sense of wellbeing and resilience that comes from making and mending.

A curator, writer, and educator, Katy has spent over two decades immersed in the world of craft publishing. Formerly Participation and Learning Manager at the Crafts Council, London, she developed creative projects that engaged people of all ages and backgrounds in hands-on making. Her thoughtful writing appears in leading titles such as Selvedge, where she explores how craft connects people, builds resilience, and sustains community.

Heritage Crafts, Katy is committed to safeguarding traditional skills and ensuring they remain accessible to all. Locally, she co-hosts the monthly Meet Make Mend repair circle at The Trinity Rooms Hub in Stroud, alongside Kat Child from Atelier, where people gather to learn, repair, and enjoy the wellbeing benefits of craft in a supportive community.

Katy is not only an editor and publishing house director but also a practising maker—teaching workshops in darning, crochet, and knitting. Her inclusive, down-to-earth teaching style champions creativity for all, believing there’s no single right way to make – just your way.

At Quickthorn Books, Katy’s editorial vision is to publish beautiful, accessible books that reflect values of personal agency, environmental responsibility, and care for others. Each title is printed in the UK, using recycled or FSC-certified paper, without plastic, and only in carefully considered print runs – a meaningful alternative to the wasteful mass-pulping practices of large publishing houses.

This sustainability-first ethos is personal. As the parent of an adult daughter with lifelong special needs, Katy has always found making to be a vital part of her own wellbeing and resilience. That lived experience inspired the idea of the "quick book"—a compact, easy-to-hold format with bite-sized chapters and evocative images, created to be accessible, beautiful, and nourishing to read.

Quickthorn’s list reflect this ethos in content as well as form.

Finding Quiet Strength, When Words Are Not Enough, Connecting Threads, and Rag Manifesto

Books focused on sustainability:
Rag Manifesto, On Mending, Beyond Darning, and Fletcher’s Almanac

Books telling community textile stories:
The Red Dress, Connecting Threads, Rag Manifesto

And her own co-authored book, Intelligent Hands (with Charlotte Abrahams), brings it all together – exploring education, making, sustainability, and the vital role of creativity in human wellbeing. It is the book that most deeply reflects Katy’s root values and Quickthorn’s wider mission.

Through Quickthorn Books, Katy Bevan continues to model a publishing practice grounded in creativity, connection, and care – for people, for community, and for the planet.

👉 Explore her book range or find out more at quickthornbooks.com

words and photos by Annabel Richmond, @proudofstroud