Susan Hill

Susan Hill

Biography

Novelist, children's writer and playwright Susan (Elizabeth) Hill was born in Scarborough, England, on 5 February 1942. She was educated at Scarborough Convent School and at grammar school in Coventry, before reading English at King's College, London, graduating in 1963 and becoming a Fellow in 1978. Her first novel, The Enclosure, was published in 1961 when she was still a student. She worked as a freelance journalist between 1963 and 1968, publishing her third novel, Gentleman and Ladies, in 1968. She became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1972 and was a presenter of BBC Radio 4's 'Bookshelf' from 1986 to 1987. In 1996 she started her own publishing company, Long Barn Books, editing and publishing a quarterly literary journal, Books and Company, in 1998.

She won a Somerset Maugham Award for I'm the King of the Castle (1970); the Whitbread Novel Award for The Bird of Night (1972); and the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for The Albatross (1971), a collection of short stories. Her other novels include Strange Meeting (1971), set during the First World War, In the Springtime of the Year (1974), Air and Angels (1991), and most recently, The Service of Clouds (1998). The Woman in Black (1983), a Victorian ghost story, was successfully adapted for stage and television and Mrs de Winter (1993) is a sequel to Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. Susan Hill is also the author of two volumes of memoir, The Magic Apple Tree: A Country Year (1982), about her life in rural Oxfordshire during the 1970s, and Family (1989), in which she writes about her early life in Scarborough. Her books for children include The Glass Angels (1991), Beware, Beware (1993) and King of Kings (1993). She has also written radio plays, a number of books of non-fiction and has edited several anthologies of short stories including two volumes of The Penguin Book of Modern Women's Short Stories, published in 1991 and 1997. Her most recent books are The Various Haunts of Men (2004) and Pure in Heart (2005), both about the adventures of Detective Chief Inspector Simon Serailler. She is married to the Shakespeare scholar Professor Stanley Wells with whom she lives in a farmhouse in the north Cotswolds.

The Enclosure Hutchinson, 1961

Do Me a Favour Hutchinson, 1963

Gentleman and Ladies Hamish Hamilton, 1968

A Change for the Better Hamish Hamilton, 1969

I'm the King of the Castle Hamish Hamilton, 1970

Strange Meeting Hamish Hamilton, 1971

The Albatross Hamish Hamilton, 1971

The Bird of Night Hamish Hamilton, 1972

The Custodian (limited edition of 600 copies) Covent Garden Press, 1972

A Bit of Singing and Dancing Hamish Hamilton, 1973

In the Springtime of the Year Hamish Hamilton, 1974

The Cold Country and Other Plays for Radio BBC Publications, 1975

The Distracted Preacher and Other Stories by Thomas Hardy (editor) Penguin, 1979

New Stories (editor with Isabel Quigly) Hutchinson (for the Arts Council of Great Britain and PEN), 1980

The Magic Apple Tree: A Country Year Hamish Hamilton, 1982

Ghost Stories (editor) Hamish Hamilton, 1983

People: Essays and Poems (editor) Chatto & Windus, 1983

The Woman in Black Hamish Hamilton, 1983

One Night at a Time Hamish Hamilton, 1984

The Ramshackle Company Longman, 1985

Mother's Magic Hamish Hamilton, 1986

The Lighting of the Lamps Hamish Hamilton, 1986

Lanterns Across the Snow Michael Joseph, 1987

Shakespeare Country Michael Joseph, 1987

Can It Be True?: A Christmas Story Hamish Hamilton, 1988

The Spirit of the Cotswolds Michael Joseph, 1988

Family Michael Joseph, 1989

Suzy's Shoes Hamish Hamilton, 1989

Ghost Stories (editor) Longman, 1990

I Won't Go There Again Julia MacRae, 1990

Septimus Honeydew Julia MacRae, 1990

Stories from Codling Village Julia MacRae, 1990

The Parchment Man: An Anthology of Modern Women's Short Stories (editor) Michael Joseph, 1990

The Walker Book of Ghost Stories (editor) Walker, 1990

Air and Angels Sinclair-Stevenson, 1991

The Glass Angels Walker, 1991

The Penguin Book of Modern Women's Short Stories (editor) Penguin, 1991

A Very Special Birthday Walker, 1992

The Mist in the Mirror: A Ghost Story Sinclair-Stevenson, 1992

Beware, Beware Walker, 1993

King of Kings Walker, 1993

Mrs de Winter Sinclair-Stevenson, 1993

Pirate Poll Puffin, 1994

The Christmas Collection Walker, 1994

Contemporary Women's Short Stories (editor) Michael Joseph, 1995

Reflections from a Garden (with Rory Stuart) Pavilion, 1995

Listening to the Orchestra Long Barn Books, 1997

The Second Penguin Book of Modern Women's Short Stories (editor) Michael Joseph, 1997

The Service of Clouds Chatto & Windus, 1998

The Boy Who Taught the Beekeeper to Read Chatto & Windus, 2003

The Various