Susan Cooper
| Susan Cooper | |
|---|---|
| Born | 23 May 1935 Burnham, Buckinghamshire, England |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Language | English |
| Genres | Children's literature |
| Notable work(s) | The Dark is Rising Sequence |
| Spouse(s) | Nicholas Grant (1963) Hume Cronyn (1996–2003) |
Susan Mary Cooper (born 23 May 1935) is an English-born American author of children's books. She is best known for The Dark Is Rising, a five-volume fantasy series set in England and Wales, which incorporate British mythology, such as Arthurian and other Welsh elements. These books were adapted into a movie, The Seeker (film).
Susan Cooper is also a board member of the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance, a not-for-profit organization in the U.S. that actively advocates for literacy, literature, and libraries.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Born in 1935, in Burnham, Buckinghamshire, Susan Cooper lived in Buckinghamshire until she was 21, when her parents moved to her grandmother's village of Aberdovey, Wales. She attended Slough High School and then earned a degree in English from the University of Oxford.
After graduation, she worked as a reporter for The Sunday Times of London under Ian Fleming, and wrote books in her spare time. During this period, she began work on the Dark Is Rising series and finished her first book, a science fiction novel Mandrake published by Hodder & Stoughton in 1964.[1]
In 1963, she left Britain for the United States to marry a Professor of Metallurgy, named Nicholas J. Grant, at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She then began writing full-time, focusing on the Dark Is Rising series and on Dawn of Fear (1970), based on her childhood wartime experiences. Her output would eventually encompass works of fiction for both children and adults, a series of picture books, film screenplays, and works for the stage.
In July 1996, Cooper married Canadian-American actor and her sometime co-author Hume Cronyn, the widower of the late Jessica Tandy. They remained married until Cronyn's death in June 2003. Cooper currently lives in Marshfield, Massachusetts.[2]
[edit] Bibliography
[edit] The Dark Is Rising
- Over Sea, Under Stone (1965)
- The Dark is Rising (1973)
- Greenwitch (1974)
- The Grey King (1975)
- Silver on the Tree (1977)
[edit] Other novels
- Mandrake (1964)
- Dawn of Fear (1970)
- Seaward (1983)
- The Boggart (1993)
- The Boggart and the Monster (1997)
- King of Shadows (1998)
- Green Boy (2002)
- Victory the story of Samuel Robbins a boy who served on HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar (June 2006)
[edit] Picture books for children
- Jethro and the Jumbie (1979)
- The Silver Cow (1983)
- The Selkie Girl (1986)
- Matthew's Dragon (1991)
- Tam Lin (1991)
- Danny and the Kings (1993)
- Frog (2002)
- The Magician's Boy (February 2005)
[edit] Movies
- The Seeker (film) (2007)
[edit] Plays
[edit] Awards
- Newbery Honor citation, The Dark Is Rising (1974)
- Newbery Medal, The Grey King (1976)
- Tir na n-Og Award, The Grey King (1976)
- Tir na n-Og Award, Silver on the Tree (1978)
- Janusz Korczak Literary Prize for Seaward (1989)
[edit] References
- ^ Susan Cooper at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved 2012-03-05. Select a title to see its linked publication history and general information. Select a particular edition (title) for more data at that level, such as a front cover image or linked contents.
- ^ Biographical information taken from: Susan Cooper. Dreams and Wishes; Essays on Writing for Children. McElderry Books. ISBN 0689807368
