Molly Holden
Molly Holden was a British writer born in London, who found inspiration in the tranquil English countryside after her family moved to Wiltshire when she was twelve. She pursued her education at King's College, London, earning a B.A. and M.A. in English, while also marrying her husband, Alan Holden, and raising their two children. Although she began her writing career later in life, her first major publication coincided with a significant health challenge, as she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at the age of thirty-seven. This diagnosis, while limiting her mobility, spurred a creative output that allowed her to transform her observations of everyday life into poetry. The 1970s marked a prolific period for her, during which she published two poetry collections and four children's novels, earning recognition including an Arts Council prize and the Cholmondeley Award. Though her health declined in the years that followed, Holden's literary legacy remains impactful, with a substantial body of work to her name by the time of her untimely death at fifty-three.
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Subject Terms
Molly Holden
Writer
- Born: September 7, 1927
- Birthplace: London, England
- Died: August 5, 1981
Biography
Molly Holden was born in London, but her creative spirit was nurtured by the English countryside. When she was twelve, her father, a gas board manager, moved the family to Wiltshire, which eventually became the locus of her writing. Her writing career came late, however, and in the interim, she received a B.A. with honors in English (1948) and an M.A. (1951) at King’s College, London. While working on her degrees, in 1949 she married Alan Holden, a schoolmaster, and moved with him to Worcestershire, where the couple raised two children, Nicola and Gerard.
When she was thirty-seven, Holden experienced both the success of her first major publication and the onset of multiple sclerosis, which permanently rendered her an invalid. In a sense, her confinement became her liberation, as she turned her observation of the minutiae of life into poetry. The 1970’s proved fertile years for Holden, and during this period she produced two poetry collections, as well as four well-received novels for children. During this decade, she was also awarded and Arts Council prize (1970) and the prestigious Cholmondeley Award (1972). Thereafter her output slowed as her health worsened, but she left behind a considerable body of work when she died prematurely at age fifty-three.