P. D. James

Overview:

• Legal Name: James, Phyllis Dorothy (The Baroness)
• Place of Birth: Oxford, England
• Date of Birth: August 03, 1920

Notes:

P. D. James was born in Oxford (England) in 1920 and educated at Cambridge High School. From 1949 to 1968 she worked in the National Health Service as an administrator, and the experience she gained from her job helped her with the background for 'Shroud for a Nightingale', 'The Black Tower' and 'A Mind to Murder'. In 1968 she entered the Home Office as Principal, working first in the Police Department concerned with the forensic science service and later in the Criminal Policy Department. She retired in 1979 and is currently Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Governor of the BBC and member of the boards of the Arts Council and the British Council. P. D. James has twice been he winner of the Diamond Dagger Award for services to crime writing. In 1983 she received the OBE and later made Baroness James. She has been a widow for over thirty years and two children and five grandchildren. The major of her novels are detective fiction, primarily following the career of Inspector (now Commander) Adam Dalgliesh; 'The Children of Men' is her own venture into speculative fiction.

Resources:

• Wikipedia article on P. D. James