'The only sensible thing to do'

 

“I just knew I would be a writer.  It just seemed the only sensible thing to do.” – Jane Gardam 

 

Born on July 11, 1928, Gardam was in her 40s when her first book was published.  “But then, my goodness, I never stopped.”  A writer of both children's and adult fiction, she also wrote reviews for The Spectator and The Telegraph, two of the most prestigious British journals, and for BBC radio. 

 

She is the author of 13 children’s books, beginning in 1971 with A Long Way From Verona, winner of the Phoenix Award in 1991 – recognizing the best children’s book published 20 years earlier that had not already won a major award. 

 

In addition to her children’s novels, Gardam has authored 9 adult novels, 10 short story collections, and a non-fiction book. 

 

Winner of numerous literary awards, including two coveted Whitbreads for The Hollow Land and The Queen of the Tambourine, she also was nominated for the Booker Prize for God on the Rocks.   In 2015 a BBC survey listed her novel Old Filth among the 100 greatest British novels.   

 

“I started to write as a child … when my mother would read me Beatrix Potter at bedtime,” she recalled.  “Writing seemed such a sensible way to live and be happy.”