birth_place language birth_date spouse genre article_title name occupation
carlisle , england english 25 may 1938 hunter davies fiction margaret forster
 margaret forster author
margaret forster

margaret forster -lrb- born 25 may 1938 -rrb- is an english author .
she was born in carlisle , england , where she attended carlisle and county high school for girls -lrb- 1949 -- 1956 -rrb- , and then won an open scholarship to read modern history at somerville college , oxford , from where she graduated in 1960 .
after a short period as a teacher at barnsbury girls ' school in islington , north london -lrb- 1961 -- 1963 -rrb- , she has worked as a novelist , biographer and freelance literary critic , contributing regularly to book programmes on television , to bbc radio 4 and various newspapers and magazines .
she was a member of the bbc advisory committee on the social effects of television -lrb- 1975 -- 1977 -rrb- , the arts council literary panel -lrb- 1978 -- 1981 -rrb- , and chief reviewer for non-fiction in the `` evening standard '' -lrb- 1977 -- 1980 -rrb- .
she was elected a fellow of the royal society of literature in 1975 .
forster is married to the writer , journalist and broadcaster hunter davies .
they live in london and in the lake district .
she is the author of many successful novels , including `` georgy girl '' -lrb- 1965 , filmed in 1966 and adapted for a short-lived 1970 broadway musical -rrb- , `` lady 's maid '' -lrb- 1990 -rrb- , `` diary of an ordinary woman '' -lrb- 2003 -rrb- , `` have the men had enough ? ''
-lrb- 1989 -rrb- and `` the memory box '' -lrb- 1999 -rrb- ; two memoirs , `` hidden lives '' -lrb- 1995 -rrb- and `` precious lives '' -lrb- 1998 -rrb- ; and several acclaimed biographies , most recently `` good wives '' -lrb- 2001 -rrb- and a fictionalised biography of the artist gwen john , `` keeping the world away '' -lrb- 2006 -rrb- .
she wrote `` rich desserts and captain 's thin '' -lrb- 1997 -rrb- , an account of the carr 's biscuit factory in carlisle .
she has won awards for both her fiction and non-fiction works : `` elizabeth barrett browning : a biography '' -lrb- heinemann award , 1989 -rrb- ; `` daphne du maurier : the secret life of the renowned storyteller '' -lrb- writers ' guild award for best non-fiction , 1993 -- fawcett society book prize , 1994 -rrb- ; `` rich desserts and captain 's thin : a family and their times 1831 -- 1931 '' -lrb- lex prize of the global business book award , 1997 -rrb- ; `` precious lives '' -lrb- j. r. ackerley prize for autobiography , 1999 -rrb- .
