Molly Winifred Holden (7 September 1927 in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
– 1981) was a British
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...
.
Biography
Holden grew up in
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
, and
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
.
She graduated from
King's College London
King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...
in 1951. Her maiden name was Gilbert. She was the granddaughter of the popular children's author
Henry Gilbert.
She suffered from
multiple sclerosis
Multiple (cerebral) sclerosis (MS), also known as encephalomyelitis disseminata or disseminated sclerosis, is the most common demyelinating disease, in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. This d ...
.
Awards
* 1972
Cholmondeley Award
The Cholmondeley Awards () are annual awards for poetry given by the Society of Authors in the United Kingdom. Awards honour distinguished poets, from a fund endowed by the Dowager Marchioness of Cholmondeley in 1966. Since 1991 the award has bee ...
Works
* ''A Hill Like a Horse'', 1963
* ''Bright Cloud'', 1964
*
*
*''The Country Over.'' Chatto and Windus. 1975.
*
* 'Sudden Immobility: Selected Poems of Molly Holden'. Barbarian Press. 2021. ISBN 0-920971-58-x
Memoirs
*
Anthologies
*
*
References
External links
"The Poetry of Molly Holden", Roger Alma, ''Poetry Nation'', No 2 - 1974*
*
*
1927 births
1981 deaths
English women poets
Writers from London
Alumni of King's College London
20th-century English women writers
20th-century English poets
{{UK-poet-stub