The Shield Ring

Rosemary Sutcliff (1920-1992)
Rosemary Sutcliff is perhaps best known for her famous Eagle of the Ninth series of books, which has been adapted into a film, TV and radio series. Born in Surrey, her father was a Royal Navy officer and her mother educated her at home after Sutcliff was left severely physically disabled after she developed Stills disease (a form of juvenile arthritis). It was through her education that Sutcliff was introduced to Celtic and Saxon legends, Icelandic sagas, fairy tales and the works of Rudyard Kipling. She enrolled at Bideford Art School in 1934, graduating and becoming a painter before she started to write in 1946, retelling the stories her mother taught her. She wrote more than fifty books for children and adults, fiction and non-fiction, as well as numerous articles and screenplays throughout her career. She won the 1959 Carnegie Medal for Children's Fiction, and 1972 Horn Book Award and the Phoenix Award in both 1985 and posthumously in 2010. She received an OBE in 1992.