Rosemary Sutcliff author page

Rosemary Sutcliff biography

Rosemary Sutcliff was a British author known for her historical fiction, particularly for children and young adults. She published her first book, The Chronicles of Robin Hood, in 1950. Sutcliff is best known for The Eagle of the Ninth (1954), which is the first in a sequence of novels set in Roman Britain. Other notable works include The Silver Branch (1957), The Lantern Bearers (1959), and Warrior Scarlet (1958).

Sutcliff adapted several classic legends and myths, including Beowulf: Dragonslayer (1961), Tristan and Iseult (1971), and The Sword and the Circle (1981), which retells Arthurian legends. Her books have been published by Oxford University Press and other major publishers.

She received the Carnegie Medal in 1959 for The Lantern Bearers. In 1974, Sutcliff was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to children’s literature, and in 1992 she was promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). Her novel The Eagle of the Ninth was adapted into the film The Eagle in 2011.

Rosemary Sutcliff’s final novel, The Shield Ring, was published in 1992.