Elspeth Barker (16 November 1940 – 21 April 2022) was a Scottish novelist and journalist.
Born as Elspeth Langlands, she was raised in Drumtochty Castle, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, where her parents ran a prep school for boys.[1] From 1958, she read Literae Humaniores (Classics) at Somerville College, Oxford.[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 at her home in Aylsham on 21 April 2022, aged 81, from health issues following a stroke.[1][6][7]
References
- ^ a b c "Elspeth Barker obituary". The Times. London. 27 April 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
- ^ "Elspeth Barker: Prize-winning author". Somerville, University of Oxford. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
- ^ O Caledonia, listing at A. M. Heath
- ^ Fraser, Robert (2001). The Chameleon Poet, A Life of George Barker. London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 0-224-06242-5.
- ^ Evening Standard, 21 December 2007, p. 15.
- ^ "Family Notices". Eastern Daily Press. 26 April 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
- ^ Risen, Clay (19 May 2022). "Elspeth Barker, Author of a Single Beloved Novel, Dies at 81". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
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This page was last edited on 31 October 2022, at 22:23