Sue Glover (born 1943, Edinburgh) is a Scottish playwright who has authored fictional works and adaptations for theater, radio and television. In the 1970s she worked with Zorina Ishmail Bibby in

St. Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's four ...

Life and work

Glover was born and raised in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, Scotland and graduated from

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI i ...

. While she lived the majority of her life in East

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross ...

, she now lives close to the beach in

East Neuk The East Neuk () or East Neuk of Fife is an area of the coast of Fife, Scotland. "Neuk" is the Scots word for nook or corner, and the East Neuk is generally accepted to comprise the fishing villages of the most northerly part of the Firth of ...

. Glover's first play was ''The Seal Wife'', which is set on a Scottish beach. ''Bondagers'' explored the social and working conditions of women laboring in the fields of the Scottish Borders. It was produced four times by the

Traverse Theatre The Traverse Theatre is a theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded in 1963 by John Calder, John Malcolm, Jim Haynes and Richard Demarco. The Traverse Theatre company commissions and develops new plays or adaptations from contemporary p ...

in Edinburgh with one of those companies going on to perform in Canada. According to Ian Brown, ''Bondagers'' marks the "beginning, in modern Scottish theatre, of the removal of dramatic action from the enclosed areas of tenements, workplaces, kitchens of kitchen-sink drama into the open spaces of the beach, sea, fields and woods." Selected works have been translated for Czech, Finnish and Irish productions. For example, ''The Seal Wife'', ''The Straw Chair'' and ''Bondagers'' were translated into Czech by David Drozd. In 2014, Glover participated in the Czech literary festival Month of Author's Reading, which is organized by the Brno publishing house Větrné mlýny, the same agency that shot the Czech television series "Scottish Reading - Don't Worry - Be Scottish," that was directed in part by Glover. She has adapted works for radio by other authors including some by

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much o ...

Guy de Maupassant Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (, ; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, remembered as a master of the short story form, as well as a representative of the Naturalist school, who depicted human lives, destin ...

Tove Jansson Tove Marika Jansson (; 9 August 1914 – 27 June 2001) was a Swedish-speaking population of Finland, Swedish-speaking Finnish author, novelist, painter, illustrator and comic strip author. Brought up by artistic parents, Jansson studied art from ...

and

Jessie Kesson Jessie Kesson (28 October 1916 – 26 September 1994), born Jessie Grant McDonald, was a Scottish novelist, playwright and radio producer. Life She was born in a workhouse in Inverness, to a mother who had turned to prostitution after being d ...

. She has created original plays for radio including: ''The Watchie'', ''Shiftwork'', ''The Benjamin'', ''The Child & The Journey'', ''The Doll's Tea Set'', and ''Losing Lottie''. The English premiere of ''The Straw Chair'' is scheduled for London's

Finborough Theatre The Finborough Theatre is a fifty-seat theatre in the West Brompton area of London (part of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea) under artistic director Neil McPherson. The theatre presents new British writing, as well as UK and world pr ...

in early 2022." Glover is a fellow of the

Association for Scottish Literary Studies The Association for Scottish Literary Studies (ASLS) is a Scottish educational charity, founded in 1970 to promote and support the teaching, study and writing of Scottish literature. Its founding members included the Scottish literary scholar Ma ...

Selected productions

* Bondagers (

) * The Seal Wife (The Little Lyceum)) * The Bubble Boy (Traverse Theatre), (The Tron) * The Straw Chair (Traverse Theatre) * An Island in Largo (The

Byre A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals and livestock. There are many different types of stables in use today; th ...

) * Bear On a Chain (

Òran Mór Òran Mór ( Scottish Gaelic: "great melody of life" or "big song") is a theatre, restaurant, entertainment and music venue in Glasgow. From 1862 until 1978 the building was the Kelvinside Parish Church (Botanic Gardens) before becoming redun ...

) * Marilyn (Citizens & Lyceum) * Shetland Saga (Traverse Theatre) * Artist Unknown (

Citizens Theatre The Citizens Theatre, in what was the Royal Princess's Theatre, is the creation of James Bridie and is based in Glasgow, Scotland as a principal producing theatre. The theatre includes a 500-seat Main Auditorium, and has also included various ...

) * BlowOuts, Wrecks & Almanacs (

Pittenweem Pittenweem ( ) is a fishing village and civil parish in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 1,747. Etymology The name derives from Pictish and Scottish Gaelic. "Pit-" represents Pictish ''pett'' 'pl ...

Festival) * Fairplay (

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history fro ...

) * Hunger (

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scotland, Scottish radio station, radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same na ...

) * Shiftwork * The Benjamin * The Wish House * Sacred Hearts

Selected publications

* Glover, S. (1997). Bondagers & The Straw Chair. Methuen Drama. * Glover, S. (2000). Shetland Saga. MIT Press. * Glover, S., & Couleau, G. P. (2003). ''La chaise de paille''. L'Avant-scène théâtre. * Glover, S. (2014). The Straw Chair. Bloomsbury. * Glover, S. (2014). Bondagers. Bloomsbury.

Selected awards

* ''The Bubble Boy'' won prizes at television festivals in New York and Chicago in 1980. * ''Bondagers'' won a Thames Television Award in 1991.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glover, Sue 1943 births Living people Scottish women novelists Scottish radio producers 20th-century Scottish writers 20th-century Scottish women writers 20th-century British novelists Theatre in Scotland Scottish women dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Scottish dramatists and playwrights Women radio producers