Sheila MacLeod was born on 23 March 1939 in the Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland. MacLeod attended the Wycombe Abbey School in Buckinghamshire, England before completing her degrees in English in Somerville College, Oxford. She got her bachelors in 1961 and her masters in 1993. MacLeod later completed a bachelor's in French from Birkbeck College, University of London in 1996.[1]
MacLeod wrote for a number of publications including The Times Literary Supplement, Vogue, The Observer, and the Evening Standard. She also worked for Clarendon Press. Her novels ranged from science fiction to the non fantastic. MacLeod wrote a BBC television play in 1965 and another play in 1985.[2][3][4]
She married Manfred Mann singer Paul Jones in 1963, but they later divorced. In 2013, she moved from London to Shaftesbury, Dorset. [5][6]