Aiken, Joan (1924–2004)

English writer. Born Joan Delano Aiken, Sept 4, 1924, in Rye, Sussex, England; died Jan 4, 2004, at home in Petworth, West Sussex, England; dau. of Jessie (McDonald) Aiken and Conrad (Potter) Aiken (the poet); stepdau. of writer Martin Armstrong; m. Ronald George Brown (journalist), July 7, 1945 (died 1955); m. Julius Goldstein (painter and teacher), Sept 2, 1976; children: (1st m.) John Sebastian Brown, Elizabeth Delano Brown.

At 17, adapted children's stories for stepfather's BBC radio show; published 1st novel The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (1962), then wrote 4 more books featuring Dido Twite; other books include Black Hearts in Battersea, Night Birds on Nantucket, The Whispering Mountain, The Cuckoo Tree, Kingdom under the Sea, Tales of Arabel's Raven and Mortimer and the Sword Excalibur; adult novels include The Silence of Herondale, The Embroidered Sunset, Died on a Rainy Sunday, The Smile of the Stranger and Mansfield Revisited (1984), sequel to Jane Austen's Mansfield Park; with daughter, wrote a series of tv adaptations of her work for BBC, as well as the play Winterthing (music by son John Sebastian Brown), which was 1st produced at the Young Vic (1970); wrote "Midnight Is a Place" (13-part serial) for Southern Television (1977). Received, among others, the Guardian Award for Children's Fiction and Carnegie Award runner-up for The Whispering Mountain (1969), Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Juvenile Mystery for Night Fall (1972), and the New York Times Outstanding Book citation for Midnight Is a Place (1974).