Cooper, Susan (1935-…), an English-born author, won the 1976 Newbery Medal for her novel The Grey King (1975). This book was the fourth in her series of fantasies called “The Dark Is Rising.” The stories tell about several British children and their roles in the struggle between the forces of Light and Dark. The earlier works in the series were Over Sea, Under Stone (1966), The Dark Is Rising (1973), and Greenwitch (1974). The fifth book, Silver on the Tree (1977), ended the series.
Susan Mary Cooper was born on May 23, 1935, in Burnham, Buckinghamshire, England. She moved to the United States in 1963. Her other children’s books include Dawn of Fear (1970), The Silver Cow: A Welsh Tale (1983), Seaward (1983), The Selkie Girl (1986), Green Boy (2002), The Magician’s Boy (2005), Victory (2006), and Ghost Hawk (2013). In addition, she wrote two humorous fantasies called The Boggart (1992) and The Boggart and the Monster (1997). Cooper and Canadian-born actor Hume Cronyn wrote the play Foxfire (1982). She and Cronyn were married from 1996 until his death in 2003. Cooper also wrote screenplays and biographies and the nonfiction collection Dreams and Wishes: Essays on Writing for Children (1996).
