Gaby Hauptmann

Extremely popular German author, whose books are bestsellers in her native country and have been made into a number of film adaptations. Born in Trossingen, Germany in 1957. Worked as a successful journalist and editor and then began writing novels in the 1990s. Many of her books have a feminist slant and are about the gender battle. She has also written a teen series about horses featuring a girl called Kaya. This has been, or is about to be made into a TV series. Only the first three books have been reprinted in the English language, although possibly  more will follow. As well as this series she has written another horse related book which can be roughly translated as 'Stallion Parade' - it appears to be in German language only and has been made into an Austrian film.

The author also worked as a scriptwriter and TV producer.

She has her own website, but it is in German language and it does not appear to work with the google translate facility. I have provided a link for those of you who can read German!

Kaya 'Free and Strong' Series:
Teen series. Only the first few books have been reprinted in English language as well as German, however I have included the full series as others may also be published in English in the near future. The series is quite teen-orientated but is one of the better examples of such. The translator has also made a pretty good job with the English language editions.

In English Language:

1) KAYA DOES IT HER WAY
aka KAYA SCHIEßT QUER (original German title)
(BAUMHAUS [GERMANY] 2005)
Also published by Stabenfeldt/Pony in an English language version in 2005
SUMMARY: Kaya is dissatisfied with life: she needs a boyfriend. She needs to be older. She needs to be prettier. And she needs a horse - and not just any horse - her favourite, Dreamy.  Will any of her hopes come true at all?
PONYMAD RATING: 3-4 HORSESHOES

2) KAYA WANTS TO GET AHEAD
aka KAYA WILL NACH VORN (original German title)
(BAUMHAUS [GERMANY] 2005)
Also published by Stabenfeldt/Pony in an English language version in 2005

3) KAYA KEEPS HER COOL
aka KAYA BLEIBT COOL (original German title)
(BAUMHAUS [GERMANY] 2005)
Also published by Stabenfeldt/Pony in an English language version in 2005
SUMMARY: It's Chistmas time, and one snowy night Kaya finds herself on a rescue mission to round up all the neglected horses.  But where are all these abandoned horses from?  There's something fishy going on, and Kaya and her friends decide to get to the bottom of it.  But even if they find the owner of the neglected horses, can Kaya give up the horse she's fallen hopelessly in love with?

In German language only:

4) KAYA IST HAPPY
(BAUMHAUS [GERMANY] 2005)

5) KAYA WILL MEHR
(BAUMHAUS [GERMANY] 2005)

6) KAYA HAT GEBURTSTAG
(BAUMHAUS [GERMANY] 2007)

7) KAYA GIBT ALLES
(BAUMHAUS [GERMANY] 2008)

8) KAYA SCHWORT RACHE
(BAUMHAUS [GERMANY] 2009)

Collector's info:
Originally published in German language. I think only the first three have been reprinted in English language to date. They are quite easy books to get hold of in Germany and USA, but harder to find in the UK.