Elspeth Barker was the author of O Caledonia, a novel hailed as a 'sparky, funny work of genius' (Ali Smith). She taught Latin at what she described as 'a naughty girls' school' on the Norfolk coast and worked as a tutor and lecturer in creative writing at the Norwich School of Art and Design. She wrote for the Independent, the Observer, the Sunday Times and the London Review of Books. Elspeth was married to the poet George Barker. She died in 2022.