 | Thisbiography of a living personrelies too much onreferences toprimary sources. Please help by addingsecondary or tertiary sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourcedmust be removed immediately, especially if potentiallylibelous or harmful. Find sources: "Sara Maitland" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(December 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Sara Maitland | |
|---|---|
| Born | Sarah Louise Maitland (1950-02-27)27 February 1950 (age 75) London, United Kingdom |
| Occupation | Writer ofshort stories, novelist, amateur theologian |
| Nationality | British |
| Period | 1978–present |
| Genre | Nonfiction, fiction, theology, gardening |
| Subject | Christianity,saints, lives of women, mythology,fairy tales |
| Notable works | Daughter of Jerusalem, "True North"/"Far North" (short story),A Big Enough God,A Book of Silence |
| Notable awards | Somerset Maugham Award (1979) –Daughter of Jerusalem Bristol Festival of Ideas Book Prize (nomination, 2009) –A Book of Silence BBC National Short Story Award (runner up, 2009) – "Moss Witch" |
| Website | |
| saramaitland | |
Sara Maitland (born 27 February 1950) is a British writer of religious fantasy. A novelist, she is also known for her short stories. Her work has amagic realist tendency.
Sarah (later "Sara") Louise Maitland[1] was born in London as the second of six children of Adam Maitland of Cumstoun House,Kirkcudbright, (a descendant of the judgeThomas Maitland, Lord Dundrennan)[2] and Hope Baillie Maitland (née Fraser-Campbell). Adam Maitland's mother, Cecil Louise, was from the Scottish family of Mackenzie of Portmore descending fromColin Mackenzie of Portmore, friend ofWalter Scott.[1][3] Maitland has described her upper-class London family[4] as "very open and noisy".[5] In her childhood she went to school in a smallWiltshire town[6] and attendedSt Mary's, a girls'boarding school inCalne, from the age of 12 until her admission to university. Maitland thought this school a terrible place and became very excitable.[7]
Growing up, Maitland developed a wild reputation: in 1966 she scandalised one of her brothers by winning a foot race in a very short cotton dress.[8] On enteringOxford University in 1968 to study English, she became friends with future US PresidentBill Clinton and a regular visitor at 46 Leckford Road, a house Clinton shared with Frank Aller,David Satter andStrobe Talbott.[9][10] She suffered from problems of mental disarray and inability to carry out routine tasks.[11] During her college years, Maitland was taken to amental hospital on several occasions for this reason,[11] but she completed her course and started writing.
She has been absorbed in religion since 1972. From 1972 to 1993 she was married to anAnglican priest, but divorced in 1993 and became aRoman Catholic.[12] In 1995, she worked withStanley Kubrick on the filmA.I. Artificial Intelligence.
She has two adult children.[13] Since her son left college, Maitland has moved towards a solitary and prayerful life[14] in a variety of locations, first of all on theIsle of Skye and ultimately in her present house inGalloway. She says that she wants to avoid most of the comforts of life, especially those that intrude into her quest for silence such as mobile phones, radio, television and even her son.[15] She has described these changes in her life and the experiences leading to them in the autobiographicalA Book of Silence. Maitland has taught[16] part-time forLancaster University's MA in Creative Writing and is a Fellow ofSt Chad's College,Durham University.
Maitland's 2003 collection of short stories,On Becoming a Fairy Godmother, is a fictional celebration of themenopausal woman, while the title story of 2008'sFar North was originally published as "True North" in her first collectionTelling Tales and was made into afilm of the same title in 2007. The rest ofFar North collects dark mythological tales from around the world.
maitland.
Formerly at Lancaster University
