  susan mary cooper (born 23 may 1935) is an english-born american author of children's books. she is best known for the dark is rising, a contemporary fantasy series set in england and wales, which incorporates british mythology, such as the arthurian legends, and welsh folk heroes. for that work, in 2012 she won the lifetime margaret edwards award from the american library association recognizing her contribution to writing for teens. in the 1970s two of the five novels were named the year's best english-language book with an "authentic welsh background" by the welsh books council. == biography == cooper was born in 1935 in burnham, buckinghamshire, to john richard cooper and his wife ethel maybelle, nee field. her father had worked in the reading room of the natural history museum until going off to fight in the first world war, from which he returned with a wounded leg. he then pursued a career in the offices of the great western railway. her mother was a teacher of ten-year-olds and eventually became deputy head of a large school. her younger brother roderick also grew up to become a writer. cooper lived in buckinghamshire, until she was 21, when her parents moved to her grandmother's village of aberdovey in wales. she attended slough high school and then earned a degree in english from the university of oxford, where she was the first woman to edit the undergraduate newspaper cherwell.charles butler, four british fantasists: place and culture in the children's fantasies of penelope lively, alan garner, diana wynne jones, and susan cooper (rowman & littlefield, 2006), page 14. after graduating, she worked as a reporter for the sunday times
1935_births Alumni_of_Somerville_College,_Oxford English_children\'s_writers English_expatriates_in_the_United_States English_fantasy_writers Living_people Margaret_A._Edwards_Award_winners Newbery_Honor_winners Newbery_Medal_winners People_educated_at_Upton_Court_Grammar_School People_from_Burnham,_Buckinghamshire