Berlie Doherty

Berlie Doherty is a unique voice in children’s literature. Twice winner of the Carnegie Medal, Berlie has been acclaimed for the “emotional honesty” of her writing. Junior Bookshelf describes her as a writer “who uses language as if it has been newly invented”.

THE BASICS
Born: Knotty Ash, Liverpool
Jobs: Social worker, teacher, scriptwriter, author
Lives: Edale, Derbyshire
First Book for Young People: How Green You Are!, 1982

THE BOOKS
Berlie Doherty was brought up in Liverpool. It was not a bookish household, but her father, a railwayman, was an avid writer. His poetry was published in the local newspaper and he encouraged Berlie to write for the children’s page of the Liverpool Echo. Berlie carried a notebook around with her. She was a keen reader. When her local librarian introduced her to Swallows and Amazons, it was as if a door to a new world had been opened.

Ironically, Berlie’s own writing was put on hold when she went to Durham University to study English Literature. She started again when a short story, written as part of her PGCE course, impressed her tutor so much that he urged her to send it to Radio Sheffield. The station not only took it but also commissioned Berlie to script a schools series for teenagers.

In 1983, after two years teaching in a large city comprehensive and another two working for schools radio, Berlie decided to become a full-time writer. It was a risk - her marriage had ended and she had three children to bring up alone. But the risk paid off; Berlie has enjoyed a hugely successful career, writing in a variety of forms and for a wide range of audiences. To date, she has written more than 35 books for children, two adult novels, several plays for theatre and radio and three TV series!

Berlie won the Carnegie Medal twice: in 1987 for Granny Was a Buffer Girl, and in 1992 for Dear Nobody. In 1994 Dear Nobody won the Sankei Award, one of Japan's most prestigious literary awards, and Berlie’s own adaptation of the book for the stage won the Writer's Guild of Great Britain Children's Theatre Award. In 1997 she won the Writer's Guild Children's Fiction Award for Daughter of the Sea. Berlie recently won a “Talkie Award” for her adaptation of The Water Babies for BBC Radio 4. To date, her work has been translated into seventeen languages.

Having written for children and adults, Berlie rejects the assumption that writing for children is easier. “It is certainly different. Children need a good strong storyline. But they need sensitive writing and must be able to relate to the characters and the plot.”

To help ensure that children do relate to her writing, Berlie has often collaborated with her potential readers. “Pupils from Ecclesfield School were a great help when I was writing How Green You Are. Later I wrote Tough Luck with a whole class of Year 9 students a school in Doncaster and Spellhorn with a group of blind students. I wrote Dear Nobody after talking to Year 10 and 11 students.” She says that this process gets lots of ideas going in her head and keeps her in touch with how young people really think. “I think I have always tried to involve children at some stage or other in the stories that I write for them,” Berlie says, “It comes from a need for sharing and a delight in story-telling, and it also comes from a conviction that children are the experts and I can always learn from them.”

Berlie is a keen conservationist and has written two children’s books which address green issues, Tilly Mint Tales and Tilly Mint and the Last Dodo.

Her other passion is the Derbyshire countryside. Even before she moved to the Peak District, “I used to find myself driving out into Derbyshire nearly every day, perhaps to walk or to find a lovely spot by a river to sit and write.” Two of the TV series she has written, White Peak Farm and Children of Winter, are set in the Derbyshire countryside she loves.

Berlie’s latest book takes her back to her Liverpool roots. The Sailing Ship Tree is set beside the River Mersey, just before the outbreak of the First World War. The book is in part based on her dad’s life. He was a twin and the son of a butler, like young Walter Hollins. Says Berlie, “My father died at the age of 93 and I found these anecdotes and memories he had written down. He always wanted to be a writer. The Sailing Ship Tree was a way of celebrating his life and making him one of the stars of the story.”

WHAT SHE SAYS...
“My mother used to tell people I was a terrible reader. I wanted to stop her and say it didn’t mean that I couldn’t read but that I couldn’t stop. I used to love Little Women, Heidi, the Katie books, Dickens, L M Montgomery – those where you got involved in the characters more than the plot.”

“I think nearly every book I’ve written has got something of the truth in it. And I like to call that ‘I remember’ and it’s also got something that didn’t happen at all and I call that ‘Let’s pretend’. I think all the books are a mixture of the two.”

“I never just sit down and start writing without any idea. I just think about it for months, carrying it around in my head until I know it practically beginning to end and then I start to write it down. But the end starts to change because the characters start to get really strong and they want to go one way – not always the way I thought they might go.”

“When I was very young I was always writing. I’d have a note book and I’d take it round with me and I’d jot things down, all kinds of things, like what somebody looked like sitting on the bus opposite me that looked interesting, or something I heard somebody say, or what I saw when I looked through somebody’s window, or how I felt when I got told off for something I hadn’t done, that sort of thing.”

“It’s usually a matter of making myself stop writing, rather than making myself start. After I have finished I feel terrible. I feel grieved that I have lost someone close; a great deal of myself is in my books.”

“My problem is not what to think of to write about, it’s what to write next, because I’ve usually got lots of ideas in my head. All kinds of things can give you an idea as a starting point. For instance, the idea for Granny Was a Buffer Girl came from a painting in Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield. It was a painting of two buffer girls and it was the idea of these girls trapped forever in a painting, at the age of 18, which made me try to imagine what it would be like for them to step out of the painting and live real lives.”

“I start writing quite early after posting my letters, up until around lunchtime. I never write in the afternoon; I’d fall asleep if I tried.”

“When writing I always start off with a hand-written draft. I love that closeness to the page and the noise of the pen on the paper. I write on every other page and every other line. So I have lots of space for new ideas or to ask myself questions. Last of all I go to the word processor and then it feels like a proper, posh book. It’s like a tapestry with all the threads woven in.”

“I don’t think books should give messages; I don’t think that’s what novels are about.”

WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT BERLIE DOHERTY...
“Berlie Doherty captures the magic of human emotion.” Grace Kempster, Books For Keeps

“Berlie Doherty writes both for adults and children, moving easily across the divide.” The Guardian

“What a marvellous writer… one who uses language as if it has been newly invented.” Junior Bookshelf

“Berlie has one of those rare talents which is immediately apparent to everyone. Her first manuscript came in on the unsolicited pile, she had no agent to push her, and it just shone through.” Jane Nissen, Berlie’s long-time editor

“Very enjoyable.” Aquila on Daughter of the Sea

“Berlie Doherty knows how to generate tension… Doherty’s strength has always been her emotional honesty, and here she finds more than a touch of cold northern poetry as well.” Philip Pullman, The Guardian on Daughter of the Sea

“She catches turns and rhythms of speech most sensitively and creates such bright mental images.” Ham & High on Daughter of the Sea

“Daughter of the Sea… is a magical reworking of the Norse, Scots and Irish Selkie myths. The prose is both simple and poetic, cool and deep as the sea, flecked through with images of island life to thrill the ancestral blood.” Scotland on Sunday on Daughter of the Sea

“Her characters live with sea-wrack and crashing waves, always on the edge of poignant, briny tragedy.” Sydney Morning Herald on Daughter of the Sea

“A highly charged reworking of the legend of the Selkie.” The Telegraph on Daughter of the Sea

“Remarkably vivid… Berlie Doherty offers today’s children a lyrical, tough and contemporary immersion in the legend.” TES on Daughter of the Sea

“Strong characterisation and vibrant prose make it an outstanding example of how to handle a sensitive subject.” Daily Mail on Dear Nobody

“Outstanding… it illuminates the inner life of boys, girls and parents alike.” The Independent on Dear Nobody

“Berlie Doherty has written with great integrity a book about teenage choices, and their attendant responsibilities.” Irish Times on Dear Nobody

“Highly recommended.” School Librarian on Dear Nobody

“Beautifully and convincingly written, without a trace of sentimentality or sensationalism.” The Scotsman on Dear Nobody

“I don’t think I have ever read a book that evokes so vividly how it feels to be a teenager in love.” The Telegraph on Dear Nobody

“Doherty’s novel is compellingly authentic. She captures both the emotional turmoil felt by many young people as they cross the suspension bridge from childhood to the adult world and the intense, inwardly-focused experience of pregnancy.” Time Out on Dear Nobody

“This beautifully crafted, elegiac novel operates equally successfully on two levels – as a work of fiction and as a social document.” Books For Keeps on The Sailing Ship Tree

“Another triumph from Berlie Doherty.” Sunday Telegraph on The Sailing Ship Tree

“A story full of tragedy and warmth that will enthral.” The Times on The Sailing Ship Tree

“Doherty shows her usual sympathetic insight into the young in search of themselves… a narrative of fascinating complexity.” Children’s Books Ireland on The Snakestone

“Structurally inventive, full of echo and metaphor, this beautifully paced story has the feel of a thriller as the narrative threads entwine.” Joanna Carey, The Guardian on The Snakestone

“Berlie Doherty writes with an authority that brings to life all she describes.” Nicholas Tucker, The Independent on The Snakestone

“A beautiful, evocative book.” The Tablet on Spellhorn

“The most striking quality of Spellhorn is the texture of the language, which supplies sight through sound and smell: ‘picture words’. Everything is described through sensory impressions; nothing is ever still.” TES

“Magnificent… a terrific adventure story, heart-warmingly poignant and a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit.” Daily Mail on Street Child

“A well-researched slice of history, masterfully fashioned into the fascinating and compelling story of the life of one small boy.” Junior Education on Street Child

“A good story, and a touching one.” Jill Paton Walsh, TES on Street Child

AWARDS
The Carnegie Medal 1987 for Granny Was a Buffer Girl
The Carnegie Medal 1992 for Dear Nobody
The Sankei Award 1994 for Dear Nobody
The Writers Guild Award 1997 for Daughter of the Sea
Shortlisted for The Lancashire Children’s Book of the Year Award 2000 for The Sailing Ship Tree