Vivien Alcock

Vivien Alcock
Born	23 September 1924 Worthing, Sussex
Died	11 October 2003 (aged 79)
Nationality	United Kingdom
Occupation	Writer
Known for	Children's fiction

Vivien Alcock (23 September 1924 – 11 October 2003) was an English author of children's books. Born in Worthing, West Sussex in England, her family moved to Devizes in Wiltshire when she was aged 10. She had two elder sisters and they all wrote.^[1] She then studied at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art at Oxford.^[2]

She was married to author Leon Garfield who she met whilst driving ambulances in Belgium. They adopted a daughter, named Jane after Jane Austen. Her first book was The Haunting of Cassie Palmer which was published when she was 56. This followed by The Monster Garden and about twenty others.^[1]

Written Work

• The Haunting of Cassie Palmer (1980)
• The Stonewalkers (1981)
• The Sylvia Game (1982)
• Ghostly Companions: A Feast of Chilling Tales (1984)
• A Change of Aunts (1984) - short story
• The Cuckoo Sister (1985)
• Travellers by Night (1985)
• Wait and See (1986)
• The Mysterious Mr. Ross (1987)
• A Kind of Thief (1988)
• The Monster Garden (1988)
• The Thing in the Woods (1989)
• The Trial of Anna Cotman (1989)
• The Dancing Bush (1991)
• Singer to the Sea God (1992)
• Othergran (1993)
• The Face at the Window (1994)
• The Wrecker (1994)
• Time Wreck (1996)
• The Silver Egg (1997)
• The Red-Eared Ghosts (1997)
• Stranger at the Window (1998)
• A Gift on a String (1998)
• Ticket to Heaven (2000)
• The Boy Who Swallowed A Ghost (2001)

The Stonewalkers was also made available on audio cassette.

Awards

• Horn Book Honor List 1985 for Travellers by Night
• Notable Book of the Year, American Library Association Notable Books, 1985 for Travellers by Night
• Notable Book of the Year, American Library Association, 1986 for The Cuckoo Sister
• Notable Book of the Year, American Library Association, 1988 for The Monster Garden
• Best science fiction/fantasy Book, Voice of Youth Advocate, 1988 for The Monster Garden
• Horn Book Fanfare Best Books of the Year 1989 for The Monster Garden
• Horn Book Fanfare Best Books of the Year 1993 for A Kind of Thief
• Carnegie Medal shortlist for The Trial of Anna Cotman

References

1. Vivien Alcock's Obituary in The Guardian, Retrieved 1 February 2016
2. Peters Books: Biography

External links

• Vivien Alcock's Obituary in The Guardian
• The writings of V Alcock