Penguin Books Australia

Raised on a farm in the English Lakes District, Kathleen Jones went on to study law and English literature at university, before specialising in early women writers. She then spent several years in Africa and the Middle East – where she worked in English broadcasting – before returning to Europe. Her published work includes radio journalism, articles for magazines and newspapers, short fiction and eleven books – a mixture of biography, general non-fiction and two poetry collections.

Her other biographies include: A Glorious Fame (1988), the life of Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle; Learning not to be First (1991), a life of the Victorian poet Christina Rossetti, which was Doris Lessing's 'book of the year'; A Passionate Sisterhood (1997), an account of the lives of the women who lived with the 'lake poets', described as 'a fascinating, marvellous, utterly absorbing book' (Sue Limb, Independent on Sunday); and a biography of  Catherine Cookson (1999).

Kathleen has taught creative writing in a number of colleges and universities and is currently a Royal Literary Fund Fellow. She divides her time between England, Italy and New Zealand. www.kathleenjones.co.uk