Elspeth Barker

Elspeth Barker (16 November 1940 – 21 April 2022) was a British novelist and journalist.

Born as Elspeth Langlands, she was raised in Drumtochty Castle, Aberdeenshire, where her parents ran a prep school for boys.[1] From 1958, she read Literae Humaniores (Classics) at Somerville College, Oxford and worked as a teacher of Latin after her graduation.[2] Barker's only novel, O Caledonia, was published in 1991. It won four awards and was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize.[3] Her edited anthology Loss, about bereavement, was published in 1997, and her reviews and essays in a 2012 collection, Dog Days.[1]

Her first husband was the poet George Barker by whom she had five children, including the novelist Raffaella Barker.[4] In 2007, she married the writer Bill Troop.[5] Barker died from health issues following a stroke[1] on 21 April 2022, at the age of 81.[6]

References
  1. "Elspeth Barker obituary". The Times. London. 27 April 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  2. "Elspeth Barker: Prize-winning author". Somerville, University of Oxford. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  3. O Caledonia, listing at A. M. Heath
  4. Fraser, Robert (2001). The Chameleon Poet, A Life of George Barker. London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 0-224-06242-5.
  5. Evening Standard, 21 December 2007, p. 15.
  6. "Family Notices". Eastern Daily Press. 26 April 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.