Kathryn Bonella

Kathryn Bonella is an award-winning author, screen writer and documentary filmmaker with an impressive list of international bestsellers to her name. Born in Adelaide, Australia, Bonella has been telling stories since her childhood, beginning her creative career as a freelance journalist in her twenties.

Her most notable work to date is ‘Hotel K: Inside Bali’s Most Notorious Jail’, which documents her journey inside one of Bali’s most notorious prisons. The book delved deep into the lives of the prisoners and stories behind their offences, with Bonella gaining unprecedented access to the prison and unique insight into the workings of its segregation units, violent gangs and corrupt officials. This insider’s look at the prison featured extensive interviews with prisoners, jailers, drug lords and the families of prisoners, some of whom spoke for the first time about their experiences.

The book was received to critical acclaim, hitting the top ten on the U.S. Publisher’s Bestseller list, winning the UK Best International Non-Fiction Work of the Year award and was shortlisted for the U.K. Four Career Writers Award. As a testament to its success, a mini-series based on the book is currently in the works, while a feature film has already been made, with Bonella as a consulting producer.

The success of ‘Hotel K’ kicked off Kathryn Bonella’s writing career, which has since spanned over a decade. Her second book, ‘Supermax’, was published in 2017, and is an even more disturbing look into the world of maximum security prisons. Drawing on her experience of researching and writing ‘Hotel K’, the book gives an outline of different types of high-security prisons found around the world, describing their particular operations and the criminals they house.

In addition to her non-fiction works, Bonella also wrote and wrote the script to the critically acclaimed movie ‘Schapelle’, which tells the true story of Schapelle Corby’s arrest and conviction on drug trafficking charges in Indonesia. The script was based on Bonella’s best-selling book of the same name, and was awarded the NSW Premier’s Literary Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Kathryn Bonella has become one of the most respected and celebrated authors and screenwriters in Australia and beyond. Her ability to tell fascinating stories that get to the heart of their subject matter has earned her widespread recognition and acclaim, with her work being translated into multiple languages and adapted for the screen.

Kathryn Bonella’s body of work is essential reading for anyone interested in true crime and justice, as her books provide an in-depth, unique and fascinating look into the dark side of society. Bonella’s skillful story-telling, complete with real-life interview with the subjects of her stories, reveals a shocking, sometimes heartbreaking, and often unforgettable insight into the world’s prisons and inmates.