Berlie Doherty

Berlie Doherty (born 6 November 1943; Liverpool, UK; née Hollingsworth) is an English novelist, poet, playwright and screenwriter. She is best known for her children's books, for which she has twice won the Carnegie Medal. Her other works include novels for adults, plays for theatre and radio, television series and libretti for children's opera. Born at Knotty Ash in Liverpool in 1943 to Walter Hollingsworth, Doherty was the youngest of three children. When she was four, the family moved to the seaside town of Hoylake, the setting of several of her early books. She was encouraged to write by her father, from whom she later wrote that she had 'inherited stories'. A railway clerk by trade, he was also a keen writer whose poetry had been...