Lavinia Derwent
Scottish author and broadcaster
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Elizabeth Dodd MBE (1909–1989), better known by her pen name Lavinia Derwent, was a Scottish author and broadcaster.[1]
1909
Lavinia Derwent | |
|---|---|
| |
| Born | Elizabeth Dodd 1909 Cheviot Hills, Scotland |
| Died | 1989 (aged 79–80) |
| Occupations | Writer and broadcaster |
| Writing career | |
| Pen name | Lavinia Derwent |
| Genres | Children's fiction, adult fiction |
| Notable work | The Sula quartet |
Life
Derwent was born in an isolated farmhouse in the Cheviot Hills, seven miles from Jedburgh and began making up stories about animals at an early age. She wrote a version of Greyfriars Bobby. Her autobiographical books include her Border and Manse series. Border Bairn is set around Jedburgh, while Lady of the Manse has a Berwickshire setting. Derwent's Manse books drew on her experiences keeping house for her Church of Scotland minister brother.[2][3]
Broadcasting
Derwent's first successes were her Tammy Troot stories, which were read out in the 1920s on Auntie Kathleen's Children's Hour on Scottish Radio.[4] The first of the books was published in 1947. They were still being reprinted in the 1970s, when Derwent, alternating with Molly Weir and Cliff Hanley, co-presented the series Teatime Tales on the STV (TV network), recalling stories taken from her own childhood.[1]
The Sula books
Bibliography
- ”My Own Book of Birds” (1937)
- Tammy Troot (1947)
- Tammy Troot's Capers (1947)
- Huffy Puffy the little red engine (1951)
- Macpherson (1961)
- Further Adventures of Tammy Troot (1975)
- Sula (1969)
- Return to Sula (1971)
- The Boy from Sula (1973)
- Song of Sula (1976)
- Macpherson's Island (1970)
- Macpherson's Skyscraper (1978)
- A Breath of Border Air (1977)
- Another Breath of Border Air (1978)
- God Bless the Borders (1981)
- A Border Bairn (1980)
- Beyond the Borders (1989)
- The Tale of Greyfriars Bobby (1985)
- The Lady of the Manse (1985)
- A Mouse in the Manse (1987)
