Diana Hendry

Background

Hendry was born in the Wirral, England, one of three children. She worked for a time as a journalist in print and radio, including a post at The Western Mail in Cardiff (1960–65).

She took a degree when she was 39 years old at the University of Bristol. She wrote "As luck would have it my professor’s wife was the author Diana Wynne Jones, who saw my writing and suggested a publisher." This began a successful writing career. She taught English at a boys' school and later creative writing at the University of Bristol (1995–97).

Hendry has written over 40 books for children, including Harvey Angell, which won a Whitbread Award in 1991. She won first prize in the 1996 Housman Society Competition for her poetry and was writer in residence at Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary (1997-1998). Her collections of poetry for adults include Making Blue (Peterloo, 1995), Borderers (Peterloo, 2001) and Twelve Lilts: Psalms & Responses (Mariscat Press, 2003) and Late Love: And Other Whodunnits (2008). Her book The Seeing, inspired by her childhood memories of the war, was shortlisted for the Scottish Children’s Book Award (2013). She tutors at the Arvon Foundation and writes for the Spectator.

Hendry lives in Edinburgh with her partner Hamish Whyte of Mariscat Press. She has two children and three grandchildren. Her influences include novelist Charles Langbridge Morgan, Albert Camus, Muriel Spark, Elizabeth Bishop and Seamus Heaney. She enjoys yoga and playing the piano.

Awards and honours

Poetry collections

Children's fiction: selected