Editing Susan Cooper

{{Short description|English fantasy writer}}
{{Other people|Susan Cooper}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2015}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name = Susan Cooper
| image = Susan cooper 8313.JPG
| imagesize = 
| caption = Cooper in 2013
| pseudonym = 
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1935|5|23|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Burnham, Buckinghamshire]], England, UK
| death_date = 
| death_place = 
| occupation = Writer
| language = English
| nationality = 
| ethnicity = 
| citizenship = <!-- does anyone know? her biographical FAQ does not say -->
| education = 
| alma_mater = [[Somerville College, Oxford|Somerville College]], [[University of Oxford|Oxford]]
| period = 1964–present
| genre = [[Children's literature|Children's]] [[fantasy]] novels
| notableworks = ''[[The Dark Is Rising]]'' series
| spouse = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Nicholas Grant<br />|1963|1983|end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|[[Hume Cronyn]]<br />|1996|2003|end=died}}
}}
| children = 
| relatives = 
| awards = {{awards |[[Newbery Medal]] |1976}} 
{{awards |[[Margaret A. Edwards Award]] |2012}}
| signature = 
| signature_alt = 
| website = {{URL|thelostland.com}}
| portaldisp = 
| birth_name = Susan Mary Cooper
}}

'''Susan Mary Cooper''' (born 23 May 1935) is an [[English people|English]] author of children's books. She is best known for ''[[The Dark Is Rising Sequence|The Dark Is Rising]]'', a [[contemporary fantasy]] series set in England and Wales, which incorporates British mythology such as the [[King Arthur|Arthurian]] legends and Welsh folk heroes.<ref name=hand/> For that work, in 2012 she won the lifetime [[Margaret A. Edwards Award]] from the [[American Library Association]], recognizing her contribution to writing for teens.<ref name=edwards/> In the 1970s two of the five novels were named the year's best English-language book with an "authentic Welsh background" by the [[Welsh Books Council]].<ref name=tirnanog/> In 2024, the [[Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association]] named her the 40th [[Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award|Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master]] in recognition of her significant contributions to the literature of science fiction and fantasy.  

== Biography ==

Cooper was born in 1935 in [[Burnham, Buckinghamshire]], to Ethel May (''née'' Field) and her husband John Richard Cooper.<ref name=chaston/> Her father had worked in the reading room of the Natural History Museum until going off to fight in the Second World War, from which he returned with a wounded leg. He then pursued a career in the offices of the [[Great Western Railway]]. Her mother was a teacher of ten-year-olds and eventually became deputy head of a large school. Her younger brother Roderick also grew up to become a writer.<ref name=chaston/>

Cooper lived in Buckinghamshire until she was 21, when her parents moved to her grandmother's village of [[Aberdyfi]] in Wales. She attended [[Slough High School]] and then earned a degree in [[English studies|English]] at [[Somerville College]] at the [[University of Oxford]], where she was the first woman to edit the undergraduate newspaper [[Cherwell (newspaper)|''Cherwell'']].<ref>Charles Butler, [https://books.google.com/books?id=fxNyH4uE100C&pg=PA14 ''Four British Fantasists: Place and Culture in the Children's Fantasies of Penelope Lively, Alan Garner, Diana Wynne Jones, and Susan Cooper''] (Rowman & Littlefield, 2006), page 14.</ref>

After graduating, she worked as a [[reporter]] for ''[[The Sunday Times]]'' (London) under [[Ian Fleming]] and wrote in her spare time. During that period she began work on the series ''The Dark Is Rising'' and finished her [[debut novel]], the [[science fiction]] ''Mandrake'', published by [[Hodder & Stoughton]] in 1964.<ref name=isfdb/>

Cooper emigrated to the United States in 1963 to marry Nicholas J. Grant, a professor of [[metallurgy]] at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], and a widower with three teenage children.<ref name=chaston/> She had two children with him, Jonathan Roderick Howard Grant (b. 1965) and Katharine Mary Grant (b. 1966; later Katharine Glennon). She then became a full-time writer, focusing on ''The Dark Is Rising'' and on ''Dawn of Fear'' (1970), a novel based on her experiences of the Second World War. Eventually she wrote fiction for both children and adults, a series of picture books, film screenplays, and works for the stage.

Around the time of writing ''Seaward'' (1983), both of her parents died, and her marriage to Grant was dissolved.<ref name=chaston/>

In July 1996, she married the Canadian-American actor and her sometime co-author [[Hume Cronyn]], the widower of [[Jessica Tandy]]. (Cronyn and Tandy had starred in the [[Broadway theatre|Broadway production]] of ''[[Foxfire (play)|Foxfire]]'', written by Cooper and Cronyn and staged in 1982.)<ref name=ibdb/>

After Cronyn's death in 2003, she moved back to Massachusetts, building a house facing the [[North River (Massachusetts Bay)|North River]] in [[Marshfield, Massachusetts|Marshfield]],<ref name=Globe>Nancy Shohet West, [https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/globelocal/2020/03/11/children-are-good-readers-ever-says-acclaimed-author-susan-cooper/jEpGJLfEzjt9ioR4zwOBtL/story.html "'Children are as good readers as ever,' says acclaimed author Susan Cooper"], ''The Boston Globe'', 11 March 2020.</ref> and also living in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge]].<!--LC cites her website, October 2012--><ref name=mcelderry/> The history of the Marshfield area was the basis for her 2013 book ''Ghost Hawk'', in which the spirit of a [[Wampanoag]], whose people were decimated by European disease, witnesses the transformation of Massachusetts by the [[Plymouth Colony]].<ref name="LCC2013">[http://lccn.loc.gov/2012039892 ''Ghost Hawk'']. LCC record. Retrieved 2013-02-12.</ref> She is a member of [[First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church of Scituate]].{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

[[Hollywood (film industry)|Hollywood]] [[film adaptation|adapted]] ''The Dark Is Rising'' (1973) as a film in 2007, ''[[The Seeker (film)|The Seeker]]''.<ref name=imdb>{{IMDb title|id=0484562|title=The Seeker}} Retrieved 2012-03-25.</ref>
Before she saw the film, Cooper stated that she had requested some changes to it, but had received no response.<ref name=adler/>
 
From 2006 to 2012, Cooper was on the Board of the [[National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance]] (NCBLA), a US [[nonprofit organization]] that advocates for literacy, literature, and libraries.<ref name=ncbla-bod06>{{cite web|title=The NCBLA Board of Directors|url=http://www.thencbla.org/boarddirectors.html|website=NCBLA|access-date=2006-10-04|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061004014752/http://www.thencbla.org/boarddirectors.html|archive-date=2006-10-04}}</ref><ref name=ncbla-bod12>{{cite web|title=The NCBLA Board of Directors|url=http://www.thencbla.org/boarddirectors.html|website=NCBLA|access-date=2012-03-22|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322093151/http://www.thencbla.org/boarddirectors.html|archive-date=2012-03-22}}</ref>

In April 2017, Cooper gave the fifth annual [[Tolkien Lecture]] at [[Pembroke College, Oxford]], speaking on the role of fantasy literature in contemporary society.<ref>[https://tolkienlecture.org/2017/04/30/susan-coopers-tolkien-lecture/ Photographs, podcast, and video for Susan Cooper's Tolkien Lecture], ''The J.R.R. Tolkien Lecture on Fantasy Literature'', 2017-04-30. Retrieved 2017-06-20.</ref>

In 2019 she published ''The Shortest Day'', based on her performance poem of the same title written for the Cambridge Christmas ''[[Revels]]'' in the 1970s.<ref name=Globe/>

==Awards==

For her lifetime contribution as a children's writer, Cooper was U.S. nominee in 2002 for the biennial, international [[Hans Christian Andersen Award]], the highest international recognition available to creators of children's books.<ref name=andersen/><ref name=ibby-nominee/>

The [[American Library Association]]'s [[Margaret A. Edwards Award]] recognises one writer and a particular body of work for "significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature". Cooper won the award in 2012 citing the five Dark Is Rising novels, published 1965 to 1977. The citation observed, "In one of the most influential epic high fantasies in literature, Cooper evokes Celtic and Arthurian mythology and masterly world-building in a high-stakes battle between good and evil, embodied in the coming of age journey of Will Stanton."<ref name=edwards/>

In 2024, the [[Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association]] named her the 40th [[Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award|Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master]] in recognition of her significant contributions to the literature of science fiction and fantasy.<ref>{{Cite web |last=KathrynBaker |date=2024-02-07 |title=SFWA Names Susan Cooper as the 40th Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master |url=https://www.sfwa.org/2024/02/07/sfwa-names-susan-cooper-as-the-40th-damon-knight-memorial-grand-master/ |access-date=2024-02-08 |website=SFWA}}</ref>

She has also been recognised for single books:
*1974, Newbery Honor (runner-up for the Medal), ''The Dark Is Rising'' (1973 novel)<ref name=newbery/>
*1976, [[Newbery Medal]], ''The Grey King''<ref name=newbery/>
*1976, [[Tir na n-Og Award]], ''The Grey King''<ref name=tirnanog/>
*1978, Tir na n-Og Award, ''Silver on the Tree''<ref name=tirnanog/>
*1989, [[B'nai B'rith]] [[Janusz Korczak]] Literary Prize, ''Seaward''<ref name=cooper/>
<!-- none for two decades? -->

==Works==
<!-- this list is intended to be complete
   2013-02-12 it lists her top 20 books in WorldCat participating libraries (see footer link) and 4 others: The Magic Maker; Foxfire; Mandrake; Jethro and the Jumbie (plus the forthcoming 2013)and finally King Of Shadows.
 -->

=== Biography ===
* ''J. B. Priestley: Portrait of an Author'' (London: Heinemann, 1970) – biography of the English writer and socialist [[John Boynton Priestley]]<ref name=LCC1970>
[http://lccn.loc.gov/72548740 "J. B. Priestley: Portrait of an Author"]. Library of Congress Catalog Record ('''LCC'''). Retrieved 2013-02-12.</ref>
* ''The Magic Maker: A Portrait of John Langstaff and His Christmas Revels'' ([[Candlewick Press]], 2011) – juvenile biography of [[John Langstaff]], founder of the ''[[Revels]]'' performances<ref name=LCC2011>
According to the publisher description, Cooper is "a friend and writer for the Revels".<br />
[http://lccn.loc.gov/2010053682 "The Magic Maker: a Portrait of John Langstaff, Creator of the Christmas ..."]. LCC record. Retrieved 2013-02-12.</ref>

=== Other nonfiction ===
* ''Behind the Golden Curtain: A View of the USA'' (Hodder & Stoughton and Scribner's, 1965)<ref name=cooper/>
* ''Dreams and Wishes: Essays on Writing for Children'' (Simon & Schuster, 1996)<ref name=cooper/>

=== Drama ===
* ''Foxfire'', Cooper and Hume Cronyn (Samuel French Inc, 1982), stage playbook<ref name=cooper/> – produced on Broadway as ''[[Foxfire (play)|Foxfire]]'' (1982)<ref name=ibdb>
{{ibdb title|4192|Foxfire}}. Retrieved 2012-03-15.</ref> – based on the [[Foxfire books]]
Cooper wrote four screenplays produced for television, one supernatural tale for children and three more adaptations of books about Appalachia (as ''Foxfire'').<ref name=cooper/>
* ''Dark Encounter'' (''Shadows'', Series 2; Thames Television, 1976)
* ''The Dollmaker'' (ABC, 1984)
* ''To Dance with the White Dog'' (Hallmark, 1993)
* ''Jewel'' (CBS, 2001)

{{Col-begin}}
{{Col-break}}

=== Novels===

;''The Dark Is Rising''
{{main|The Dark Is Rising Sequence}}
* ''[[Over Sea, Under Stone]]'' (1965)
* ''[[The Dark Is Rising]]'' (1973)
* ''[[Greenwitch]]'' (1974)
* ''[[The Grey King]]'' (1975)
* ''[[Silver on the Tree]]'' (1977)

;''Boggart''
*''[[The Boggart]]'' (1993) <!--with Scottish legend-->
*''The Boggart and the Monster'' (1997) <!--with Scottish legend-->
*''The Boggart Fights Back'' (2018) <!--with Scottish legend-->

;Other
*''Mandrake'' (Hodder & Stoughton, 1964), science fiction for adults<ref name=cooper/>
*''Dawn of Fear'' (1970), autobiographical World War II story<ref name=cooper/>
*''Seaward'' (1983) <!--with Celtic myth-->
*''[[King of Shadows]]'' (1999) <!--time-slip historical novel, London 1599-->
*''Green Boy'' (2002)
*''Victory'' (June 2006) <!--time-slip historical novel, Trafalgar 1805-->
* ''Ghost Hawk'' (2013)
{{Col-break}}

===Children's picture books===
*''Jethro and the Jumbie'' (1979), illustrated by [[Ashley Bryan]] 
*''The Silver Cow: A Welsh Tale'' (1983), illustrated by [[Warwick Hutton]]
*''The Selkie Girl'' (1986), illustrated by Warwick Hutton, a retelling of the [[Selkie]] legend
*''Matthew's Dragon'' (1991), illustrated by [[Joseph A. Smith (artist)|Jos. A. Smith]]
*''Tam Lin'' (1991), illustrated by Warwick Hutton, a retelling of the [[Tam Lin]] legend
*''Danny and the Kings'' (1993), illustrated by Jos. A. Smith
*''Frog'' (2002), illustrated by Jane Browne
*''The Magician's Boy'' (2005), adapting her short play for the 1988 Revels,<ref name=cooper/> illustrated by Serena Riglietti
*''The Word Pirates'' (2019), illustrated by [[Steven Kellogg]]
*''The Shortest Day'' (2019), illustrated by [[Carson Ellis]]
{{col-end}}

===Short fiction===
* "Muffin", Amy Ehrlich, ed., ''When I Was Your Age: Original Stories about Growing Up (Volume 1)'' (Candlewick) – story set in World War II England (as ''Dawn of Fear'')
* "Ghost Story", ''Don't Read This!'' (US, Front Street), ''Fingers on the Back of the Neck'' (UK, Puffin) – collection supporting IBBY
* ''Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out'' (Candlewick) – Cooper wrote one piece of this mixed-genre NCBLA collaboration
* ''The Exquisite Corpse Adventure'' (Candlewick) – Cooper wrote one episode of this sequential story collaboration of children's authors and illustrators by NCBLA for the LC website
* "The Caretakers", ''Haunted'' (Anderson Press collection, UK only)

==References==
{{Reflist |25em |refs=
<ref name=cooper><!-- initially this stands for all pages of her website -->
"[http://www.thelostland.com/works/yabooks/bks_yanovels.html The Lost Land of Susan Cooper]". Susan Cooper. Retrieved 2013-03-14.</ref>

<ref name=adler>
[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14783609 "Author Uncertain About 'Dark' Leap to Big Screen"]. Margot Adler. [[NPR]]. 2007. Retrieved 2012-03-15.</ref>
<ref name=chaston>
{{cite book |last= Chaston |first= Joel D. |chapter= Susan (Mary) Cooper |title= Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 161: British Children's Writers Since 1960: First Series |editor= Caroline C. Hunt |location= Detroit |publisher= Gale |year= 1996 |chapter-url= http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CH1200006060&v=2.1&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w |access-date=2013-08-05}} {{subscription required}}</ref>
<ref name=hand>
[[Elizabeth Hand]]. "Susan Cooper". [[Richard Bleiler]], ed. ''Supernatural Fiction Writers: Contemporary Fantasy and Horror''. New York: Thomson/Gale, 2003. Pp. 239–44. {{ISBN|0-684-31250-6}}.</ref>
<ref name=isfdb>
{{ISFDB name |2436 |Susan Cooper}}. Retrieved 2012-03-05.</ref> 
<ref name=mcelderry>
One repeated source of biographical data is Susan Cooper, ''Dreams and Wishes: Essays on Writing for Children'', [[Margaret K. McElderry]] (date?). {{ISBN|0-689-80736-8}}.</ref>

<!-- awards refs -->
<ref name=newbery>
[http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberyhonors/newberymedal "Newbery Medal and Honor Books, 1922 – present"]. [[Association for Library Service to Children]] (ALSC). ALA. Retrieved 2012-03-15.</ref>

<ref name=edwards>
[http://www.ala.org/yalsa/edwards/previouswinners/cooper "Edwards Award 2012"]. [[Young Adult Library Services Association]] (YALSA). American Library Association (ALA).<br />
&nbsp; [http://www.ala.org/yalsa/edwards-award "Edwards Award"]. YALSA. ALA. Retrieved 2013-10-11.</ref>
<ref name=tirnanog>
[http://www.cllc.org.uk/gwasanaethau-services/plant-children/gwobrau-prizes/tir-na-nog "Tir na n-Og Awards"]. [[Welsh Books Council]] (WBC).<br />
[http://www.cllc.org.uk/gwasanaethau-services/plant-children/gwobrau-prizes/tir-na-nog/rhestr-list "Tir na n-Og awards Past Winners"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310093112/http://www.cllc.org.uk/gwasanaethau-services/plant-children/gwobrau-prizes/tir-na-nog/rhestr-list |date=10 March 2012 }}. WBC. Retrieved 2013-03-14.</ref>
<ref name=andersen>
[http://www.ibby.org/index.php?id=273 "Hans Christian Andersen Awards"]. [[International Board on Books for Young People]] ('''IBBY'''). Retrieved 2013-07-22.</ref>
<ref name=ibby-nominee>
[http://www.literature.at/viewer.alo?objid=14769&viewmode=fullscreen&scale=3.33&rotate=&page=105 "Candidates for the Hans Christian Andersen Awards 1956–2002"]. ''The Hans Christian Andersen Awards, 1956–2002''. IBBY. [[Gyldendal]]. 2002. Pages 110–18. Hosted by [[Austrian Literature Online]] (literature.at). Retrieved 2013-07-22.</ref>
}}

==Further reading==
* ''Four British Fantasists: Place and Culture in the Children's Fantasies of Penelope Lively, Alan Garner, Diana Wynne Jones, and Susan Cooper'', Charles Butler (Rowman & Littlefield, 2006)
* ''The Wand in the Word: Conversations with Writers of Fantasy'', Leonard Marcus (Candlewick, 2006)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{official website |thelostland.com |The Lost Land of Susan Cooper}} – official website with links to articles and interviews available online, at "About Writing for Children"
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100309061849/http://www.thencbla.org/biopages/biocooper.html The NCBLA Board of Directors: Susan Cooper]
* {{LCAuth|n79055718|Susan Cooper|56|ue}}
* {{ISFDB name |2436}}
* [http://www.fantasyliterature.com/coopersusan.html Susan Cooper at FantasyLiterature] – including synopses, cover art, and reviews

{{World Fantasy Award Life Achievement}}
{{Portal bar|Children's literature |Fantasy |England|United Kingdom|History}} <!-- delete the word "bar" if there are enough ordinary See also -->
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Susan}}
[[Category:1935 births]]
[[Category:Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford]]
[[Category:English expatriates in the United States]]
[[Category:English children's writers]]
[[Category:English fantasy writers]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Margaret A. Edwards Award winners]]
[[Category:Newbery Honor winners]]
[[Category:Newbery Medal winners]]
[[Category:People educated at Upton Court Grammar School]]
[[Category:People from Burnham, Buckinghamshire]]
[[Category:World Fantasy Award–winning writers]]
[[Category:English women novelists]]
[[Category:Writers of modern Arthurian fiction]]
[[Category:20th-century English women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century English women writers]]