Linklater, Eric (1899-1974), a Scottish writer, achieved wide popularity as an author of witty satirical novels. Much of Linklater’s fiction is set in the Orkney Islands of Scotland, where he lived much of his adult life. In both his novels and nonfiction, Linklater explored Scottish history and legends from ancient times to the 1900’s. He often blended realism with supernatural elements taken from Scottish lore.
Linklater wrote 23 novels, along with several collections of short stories, plays, biographies, essays, and historical works. His most popular novels include Juan in America (1931), Private Angelo (1946), and Husband of Delilah (1962). He won the Carnegie Medal for children’s literature, which the Library Association presents annually to an outstanding children’s book published in the United Kingdom, for The Wind on the Moon (1944). Linklater’s short stories were collected in The Stories of Eric Linklater (1968). He wrote biographies of the English playwright Ben Jonson; the English monarchs King James (1932) and Mary, Queen of Scots (1933); and the Scottish leader Robert the Bruce (1934). He also wrote three volumes of autobiography, The Man on My Back (1941), A Year of Space (1953), and Fanfare for a Tin Hat (1970).
Eric Robert Russell Linklater was born on March 8, 1899, in Penarth, south Wales, and educated at Aberdeen University in Scotland, where he studied medicine and then English literature. He was rector of Aberdeen University from 1945 to 1948. Linklater died on Nov. 7, 1974.
