Drabble, Margaret (1939–)

British novelist and literary critic. Born Margaret Drabble, June 5, 1939, in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England; dau. of John Frederick Drabble and Kathleen Marie (Bloor) Drabble; sister of A.S. Byatt (novelist and critic); m. Clive Smith (actor), 1960 (div. 1975); m. Michael Holroyd (biographer), 1982; children: 3.

Writer of novels, essays, criticism, biographies, short stories, and screenplays, won scholarship to Newnham College, Cambridge, and graduated with starred First in English literature; became an actress and appeared with the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon; published 1st novel, A Summer Birdcage (1963), the story of the relationship between 2 sisters; other novels include The Millstone (1966), which won the John Llewelyn Rhys Prize, The Waterfall (1969), Jerusalem the Golden (1967), which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, The Needle's Eye (1972), The Realms of Gold (1975), The Ice Age (1977), The Middle Ground (1980), The Peppered Moth (2001), The Seven Sisters (2002) and The Red Queen (2004), as well as the triology: The Radiant Way (1987), A Natural Curiosity (1989) and The Gates of Ivory (1991); works of nonfiction include Arnold Bennett: A Biography (1974), For Queen and Country: Britain in the Victorian Age (1978), and Angus Wilson: A Biography (1995); chaired the National Book League (1980–82). Received E.M. Forster Award from American Academy of Arts and Letters (1973); awarded CBE (1980).

See also E.C. Rose (ed.), Critical Essays on Margaret Drabble (G.K. Hall, 1985).