Birth Name: | Elizabeth Dodd |
Pseudonym: | Lavinia Derwent |
Birth Date: | 1909 |
Birth Place: | Cheviot Hills, Scotland |
Death Date: | 1989 |
Occupation: | Writer and broadcaster |
Nationality: | British |
Genre: | Children's fiction, adult fiction |
Notableworks: | The Sula quartet |
Lavinia Derwent was the pen name of the Scottish author and broadcaster Elizabeth Dodd MBE (1909–1989).[1] She was born in an isolated farmhouse in the Cheviot Hills some seven miles from Jedburgh and began making up stories about animals at an early age. She also 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]
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]
Derwent books about a fictional island called Sula later featured in BBC's Jackanory, read by John Cairney.[5] These were also made into a television series.
The original novels were: Sula,[6] Return to Sula,[7] The Boy From Sula[8] and Song of Sula.[9]