Elizabeth Kata was born in Sydney, Australia in 1912 to Scottish parents. Kata is best known for her first novel, Be Ready With Bells And Drums, later re-titled A Patch of Blue. It has been translated into eight different languages and was made into an award winning film starring Sidney Poitier.
Kata was married and had a son, who was born in a Japanese mountain village three weeks after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Shortly after his birth the family moved back to Australia where Kata lived until her death in 1998.