Dame Catherine Ann Cookson, was a British writer.
19 Facts About Catherine Cookson
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Catherine Cookson is in the top 20 of the most widely read British novelists, with sales topping 100 million, while she retained a relatively low profile in the world of celebrity writers.
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Catherine Cookson's books were inspired by her deprived youth in South Shields, North East England, the setting for her novels.
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Cookson, registered as Catherine Ann Davies, was born on 20 June 1906 at 5 Leam Lane in Tyne Dock, South Shields, County Durham, England.
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Catherine Cookson moved to East Jarrow, which would become the setting for one of her best-known novels, The Fifteen Streets.
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Catherine Cookson left school at 14 and, after a period of domestic service, took a laundry job at Harton Workhouse in South Shields.
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Catherine Cookson took up writing as a form of therapy in order to tackle her depression, and she became a founding member of the Hastings Writers' Group.
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Catherine Cookson's books were, she said, historical novels about people and conditions she knew.
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Catherine Cookson wrote almost 100 books, which sold more than 123 million copies, her novels being translated into at least 20 languages.
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Catherine Cookson remained the most borrowed author from public libraries in the UK for 17 years, up until four years after her death, losing the top spot to Dame Jacqueline Wilson only in 2002.
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Many of Catherine Cookson's novels have been adapted for film, radio, and the stage.
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Catherine Cookson's foundation continues to make donations to worthy causes in the UK, particularly those offering services to young people and cultural ventures, such as the Tyneside Cinema.
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Catherine Cookson was created an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1985, and was elevated to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1993.
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Catherine Cookson received the Freedom of the Borough of South Tyneside, and an honorary degree from the University of Newcastle.
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Catherine Cookson was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1982 when she was surprised by Eamonn Andrews.
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Catherine Cookson died at the age of 91, nine days before her 92nd birthday, at her home in Newcastle.
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Catherine Cookson had been hospitalised for a week and the cause of his death was not announced.
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In 1992, the inaugural Catherine Cookson Prize took place and was won by author Val Wood and her debut novel, The Hungry Tide, which subsequently went on to become a best-seller.
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The hospital occupies the site of the Harton Workhouse, where Catherine Cookson worked from 1924 to 1929.