Kathleen Fidler

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Kathleen Annie Fidler Goldie (10 August 1899 – 7 August 1980) was a prolific Scottish children's author who wrote more than 80 books. She was born in Coalville, Leicestershire, and grew up in Wigan, where she attended Wigan Girls' High School and St. Mary's College in Bangor, North Wales. She became a teacher, teaching at St. Paul's Girls' School in Wigan and later serving as headmistress of Scot Lane Evening Institute from 1924 to 1930. In 1930 she married James H. Goldie and moved to Edinburgh, where she began writing stories for her children. She eventually settled at Wester Riggs, a large house in Broomieknowe, Lasswade, Midlothian, where her husband worked as a Bank of Scotland manager. They had a daughter, Nancy, and a son, Hamish.

Throughout her career she wrote more than 80 novels and non-fiction books for children, often following two families, the Brydons and the Deans. Her work is praised for its careful research into the settings and backgrounds of her stories. She also wrote scripts for the BBC. After her death in 1980, the Kathleen Fidler Award was established in her memory by her publishers and the Edinburgh Children's Book Group to help unknown authors of children’s novels aged 8 to 12; the award ran until 2002. Her books are still read and used in Scottish schools. Her papers are held at the National Library of Scotland. Note: All dates refer to the first publication date. All books were originally published by The Lutterworth Press.