It
is the job of the novelist to touch the reader.”
– Elizabeth George
Susan “Elizabeth” George, a native
of Warren, Ohio, made her claim to fame by writing about “ordinary and
extraordinary” days in the life of a detective 6,000 miles away from her home –
Great Britain’s Inspector Thomas Lynley.
George, born on this date in 1949, didn’t start her stellar writing
career until middle age, first making her mark as an award-winning writing teacher. During her
14-year teaching career, she was twice named Teacher of the Year for
California’s largest county.
An avid “journaler,” she started her own creative writing by using
bits and pieces from her journals, including travels to England. She created the intriguing Lynley book series, most of which have been adapted by the BBC
as The Inspector Lynley Mysteries.
Her creations have now been translated into 3 dozen languages and earned her honorary degrees from California State University
Fullerton, and the Northwest Institute of Language Arts
(Whidbey Island MFA Program).
Recognition of the detail in her works – a hallmark of her writing thanks in no small part to her journaling skills – also has earned her Britain’s Anthony and Agatha Awards and France’s LeGrand Prix de Literature Policiere, a writing version of an Academy Award.
“I wish that I had known back then
that a mastery of process would lead to a product,” she said of her
writing. “Then I probably wouldn't have
found it so frightening to write.”
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