Margaret Elphinstone (born 1948) is a Scottish author of novels, short stories and poetry. She is known especially for The Sea Road, a re-telling of the Viking exploration of the North Atlantic.
Biography
Margaret Elphinstone was born in
Kent, England. At one point she studied at
Queen's College in London. She also graduated with a degree in English from
Durham University.[1] She was until recently, Professor of Writing in the Department of English Studies at the
University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, now retired. Her academic research areas are Scottish writers and the literature of Scotland's offshore islands.[2]
She did extensive study tours in
Iceland,
Greenland,
Labrador and the United States. She lived for eight years in the
Shetland Islands and is the mother of two children.
Before becoming professor in Glasgow in 2003, she worked at a variety of jobs in different locations. Some of her experiences were later used in her books:
Islanders is based on her participation in archaeological excavations on the Shetland island of
Papa Stour.
Two garden books emerged after her work as a gardener in
Galloway.