Editing K. M. Peyton (section)

==Personal life and education==
Kathleen Wendy Herald Peyton was born on 2 August 1929 in [[Birmingham]], England.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Peyton, Kathleen Wendy (Herald) 1929- |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/children/scholarly-magazines/peyton-kathleen-wendy-herald-1929 |access-date=2023-06-02 |website=[[Encyclopedia.com]]}}</ref> Peyton began writing when she was nine-years-old and was first published when she was fifteen.<ref name=":1" /> Peyton has stated that she "never decided to become a writer...[she] just was one."<ref>Peyton, i.</ref> Growing up in [[London]], she could not own a horse, and instead developed an obsession with them—all her early books are about young girls who have ponies. In 1950, Peyton published her first novel ''Sabre, the Horse from the Sea'', illustrated by British artist [[Lionel Edwards]].<ref name=":1">{{cite web |date=27 December 2023 |title=KM Peyton, doyenne of pony fiction who won the Carnegie Medal for her Flambards series – obituary |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2023/12/25/km-peyton-pony-fiction-novelist-carnegie-flambards/?utm_source=ground.news&utm_medium=referral |access-date=28 December 2023 |publisher=Telegraph}}</ref>

Later, she attended Kingston Art School, and then Manchester Art School. It was there that she met another student, [[Mike Peyton]], an ex-serviceman who had been a [[military]] [[artist]] and [[prisoner of war]]. He shared her love of walking in the [[Pennines]].<ref name="welcome">Peyton, "Welcome".</ref> They married in 1950,<ref name=":0" /> and travelled around [[Europe]]. When they returned to Britain, Peyton completed a [[Diploma of Higher Education|Teaching Diploma]] and taught for three years at [[Northampton High School, England|Northampton High School]].<ref name=":1" />