Susan Hilary Spurling CBE

FRSL The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 600 Fellows, elec ...

( Forrest; born 25 December 1940) is a British writer, known for her work as a journalist and biographer.

Early life and education

Born at

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is withi ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county tow ...

, to circuit judge Gilbert Alexander Forrest (1912–1977) and teacher Emily Maureen, daughter of Joseph Armstrong, of

Fivemiletown Fivemiletown is a village and townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is 16 miles (26 km) east of Enniskillen and 26 miles (43 km) west-south-west of Dungannon, on the A4 Enniskillen-to-Dungannon road. Fivemiletown's populat ...

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an administrative division for local government but retai ...

, Spurling was educated at Clifton High School, an

independent school An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British En ...

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...

South West England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities ...

, followed by

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, I ...

.''International Who's Who of Writers and Authors'', 23rd edition, Europa Publications, Taylor & Francis Group, 2008, p. 685

Career

Spurling won the

Whitbread Prize The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...

for the second volume of her biography of

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prim ...

in January 2006. ''Burying The Bones:

Pearl Buck Pearl Sydenstricker Buck (June 26, 1892 – March 6, 1973) was an American writer and novelist. She is best known for ''The Good Earth'' a bestselling novel in the United States in 1931 and 1932 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932. In 1938, Buck ...

in China'' was published in March 2010.

Personal life

In 1961, she married playwright John Spurling. The couple have three children (Amy, Nathaniel and Gilbert) and six grandchildren.

Works

*''Ivy When Young: The Early Life of

Ivy Compton-Burnett Dame Ivy Compton-Burnett, (; 5 June 188427 August 1969) was an English novelist, published in the original editions as I. Compton-Burnett. She was awarded the 1955 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for her novel ''Mother and Son''. Her works con ...

1884–1919'' (1974) *''

Mervyn Peake Mervyn Laurence Peake (9 July 1911 – 17 November 1968) was an English writer, artist, poet, and illustrator. He is best known for what are usually referred to as the '' Gormenghast'' books. The four works were part of what Peake conceived ...

: Drawings'' (1974) editor *''Invitation to the Dance, A Handbook to

Anthony Powell Anthony Dymoke Powell ( ; 21 December 1905 – 28 March 2000) was an English novelist best known for his 12-volume work ''A Dance to the Music of Time'', published between 1951 and 1975. It is on the list of longest novels in English. Powell' ...

's A Dance to the Music of Time'' (1977) *''Secrets of a Woman's Heart: The Later Life of

1920–1969'' (1984) *'' Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book: Elizabethan Country House Cooking'' (1986) *'' Paul Scott: A Life'' (1990) *''Paper Spirits. Collage Portraits by

Vladimir Sulyagin Vladimir may refer to: Names * Vladimir (name) for the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak and Slovenian spellings of a Slavic name * Uladzimir for the Belarusian version of the name * Volodymyr for the Ukra ...

'' (1992) introduction *''Ivy: The Life of I. Compton-Burnett'' (1995; combines two volumes originally published separately in 1974 and 1984) *''The Unknown Matisse: Volume 1 – A Life of

1869–1908'' (1998) *''La Grande Thérèse: The Greatest Swindle of the Century'' (1999) on Thérèse Humbert *''The Girl from the Fiction Department: A Portrait of

Sonia Orwell Sonia Mary Brownell (25 August 1918 – 11 December 1980), better known as Sonia Orwell, was the second wife of writer George Orwell. Sonia is believed to be the model for Julia, the heroine of ''Nineteen Eighty-Four''. Sonia collaborated with ...

'' (2002) *''Matisse the Master: The Conquest of Colour 1909–1954 '' (2005) *''Ann Stokes: Artists' Potter'' (contributor) (2009) *''Matisse: The Life'' (abridged version of two earlier works) (2009) *''

in China'' (also published as ''Burying the Bones: Pearl Buck'') (2010) *''

: Dancing to the Music of Time'' (2017)

Awards

* 1976,

Rose Mary Crawshay Prize The Rose Mary Crawshay Prize is a literary prize for female scholars, inaugurated in 1888 by the British Academy. Description The prize, set up in 1888, is said by the British Academy to be the only UK literary prize specifically for female sch ...

for ''Ivy When Young: The Early Life of Ivy Compton-Burnett 1884–1919'' * 1984,

Duff Cooper Prize The Duff Cooper Prize is a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of history, biography, political science or occasionally poetry, published in English or French. The prize was established in honour of Duff Cooper, a British diplomat, Ca ...

for ''Ivy When Young: The Early Life of Ivy Compton-Burnett 1884–1919'' * 2005, Whitbread Book of the Year award for ''Matisse the Master: The Conquest of Colour 1909–1954'' * 2010,

James Tait Black Memorial Prize The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Uni ...

for biography, for ''Burying the Bones: Pearl Buck in China''

References

External links

British Council page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spurling, Hilary 1940 births Living people Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford British biographers British journalists Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Costa Book Award-winning works Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients People educated at Clifton High School, Bristol Rose Mary Crawshay Prize winners Fellows of Somerville College, Oxford