Catherine Cookson profile
Catherine Cookson was born in Tyne Dock, Co. Durham in 1906. She started life out as Catherine McMullen, the illegitimate daughter of a poor, alcoholic and violent mother, Kate Fawcett. Catherine grew up believing Kate was her older sister but soon found out that she was really her mother.
Early starter
Catherine penned her first short story, The Wild Irish Girl at just eleven. But recognition didn't come immediately; the South Shields Gazette returned it. She left school at thirteen and worked as a maid for the rich and powerful, getting first hand insight into the division of the classes.
From humble beginnings
Throughout the mid 20's she worked in a laundry to set up an apartment hotel in Hastings where she met her husband, Tom Cookson, a teacher. Married in 1940 at the age of 34, she miscarried several times and threw herself into writing as a form of therapy.
The very first time
Catherine's first piece of work published in 1950 was the partly auto-biographical story of Kate Hannigan. Kate, a working class girl, pregnant by an upper class man gives up her child to her parents' care and lets the baby grow up believing she is her elder sister, not her mother. Cookson's neighbours did their best to stop the book from appearing as it described a baby's birth in the opening pages. A great scandal!
Me, me, me
Cookson took inspiration right at home. Her autobiography, 'Our Kate', appeared in 1969. Other auto-biographical novels include 'Catherine Cookson Country', 'Let Me Make Myself Plain' and 'Plainer Still'.
I say, what's that Catherine?
The story goes that Catherine Cookson's Northern accent was so strong most couldn't understand her. She even enlisted her husband's help as an editor and secretary checking grammar and spelling. Handy having a schoolmaster as a private secretary.
Championing the underdog
Catherine Cookson's heroines are often outcasts. Educated by friends or employers, the working class women overcome their birth disadvantages. Tilly Trotter for example is viewed by the locals as a witch, and starts out as a wealthy man's mistress, marries his son and emigrates to Texas. The story was brought to the screen by Alan Grant in 1999 starring Simon Shepard, Carli Norris, Rosemary Leach, and Gavin Abbot.
Even in Finnish
Catherine Cookson wrote over 90 novels translated into 20 languages, including Finnish. Throughout the 1990s she sold an amazing 90 million books. Her family sagas set against the backdrop of bleak 19th century Northern England became so popular that in 1988 a third of all fiction borrowed from public libraries was hers!
Accolades aplenty
Cookson was given a Freedom of the Borough of South Shields, an honorary degree from the University of Newcastle and the Royal Society of Literature's award for The Round Tower, the Best Regional Novel of the Year in 1968. She was voted Writer of the Year and Personality of The North-East and even made a Dame in 1933. The TV adaptation of The Black Velvet won an Emmy in 1991 for Best Drama.
End of an era
Catherine Cookson passed away just before her 92nd birthday in 1998 at home in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Her memory lives on with the posthumously published 'Kate Hannigan', picking up where her very first novel left off.
Did you know?
She wrote her first sixteen books in longhand, then used a tape recorder.
She also used the pen name: Catherine Marchant.
The South Shields Art Gallery boasts a copy of William Black Street, where she grew up.
In 1997, nine of her works were on the list of ten most borrowed books.
The Wingless Bird was Catherine's favourite TV adaptation.
Catherine penned her first short story, The Wild Irish Girl at just eleven. But recognition didn't come immediately; the South Shields Gazette returned it. She left school at thirteen and worked as a maid for the rich and powerful, getting first hand insight into the division of the classes.
From humble beginnings
Throughout the mid 20's she worked in a laundry to set up an apartment hotel in Hastings where she met her husband, Tom Cookson, a teacher. Married in 1940 at the age of 34, she miscarried several times and threw herself into writing as a form of therapy.
The very first time
Catherine's first piece of work published in 1950 was the partly auto-biographical story of Kate Hannigan. Kate, a working class girl, pregnant by an upper class man gives up her child to her parents' care and lets the baby grow up believing she is her elder sister, not her mother. Cookson's neighbours did their best to stop the book from appearing as it described a baby's birth in the opening pages. A great scandal!
Me, me, me
Cookson took inspiration right at home. Her autobiography, 'Our Kate', appeared in 1969. Other auto-biographical novels include 'Catherine Cookson Country', 'Let Me Make Myself Plain' and 'Plainer Still'.
I say, what's that Catherine?
The story goes that Catherine Cookson's Northern accent was so strong most couldn't understand her. She even enlisted her husband's help as an editor and secretary checking grammar and spelling. Handy having a schoolmaster as a private secretary.
Championing the underdog
Catherine Cookson's heroines are often outcasts. Educated by friends or employers, the working class women overcome their birth disadvantages. Tilly Trotter for example is viewed by the locals as a witch, and starts out as a wealthy man's mistress, marries his son and emigrates to Texas. The story was brought to the screen by Alan Grant in 1999 starring Simon Shepard, Carli Norris, Rosemary Leach, and Gavin Abbot.
Even in Finnish
Catherine Cookson wrote over 90 novels translated into 20 languages, including Finnish. Throughout the 1990s she sold an amazing 90 million books. Her family sagas set against the backdrop of bleak 19th century Northern England became so popular that in 1988 a third of all fiction borrowed from public libraries was hers!
Accolades aplenty
Cookson was given a Freedom of the Borough of South Shields, an honorary degree from the University of Newcastle and the Royal Society of Literature's award for The Round Tower, the Best Regional Novel of the Year in 1968. She was voted Writer of the Year and Personality of The North-East and even made a Dame in 1933. The TV adaptation of The Black Velvet won an Emmy in 1991 for Best Drama.
End of an era
Catherine Cookson passed away just before her 92nd birthday in 1998 at home in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Her memory lives on with the posthumously published 'Kate Hannigan', picking up where her very first novel left off.
Did you know?
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