Berlie Doherty
Encyclopedia
Berlie Doherty is an English novel
ist, poet
, playwright
and screenwriter
. She is best known for her children's books
, for which she has twice won the Carnegie Medal
. Her other works include novels for adults, plays
for theatre
and radio
, television series
and libretti
for children's opera
.
in Liverpool
in 1943 to Walter Hollingsworth, Doherty was the youngest of three children. When she was four, the family moved to the seaside town of Hoylake
, the setting of several of her early books. She was encouraged to write by her father, from whom she later wrote that she had 'inherited stories'. A railway clerk by trade, he was also a keen writer whose poetry had been published in the local newspaper. Doherty soon followed suit, with her poetry and stories appearing on the children's pages of the Liverpool Echo
and Hoylake News and Advertiser.
Doherty attended Upton Hall Convent School. She read English at the University of Durham (1965), and then studied social science at the University of Liverpool
. In 1978, after starting a family, she gained a postgraduate certificate in education at the University of Sheffield
. A course in creative writing
as part of the certificate led to a short story about the convent school; broadcast on local radio, it was to form the nucleus of Doherty's first adult novel, Requiem.
After employment as a social worker and teacher
, Doherty spent two years writing and producing schools programmes for BBC Radio Sheffield
.
, "Doherty’s strength has always been her emotional honesty."
Her books encompass multiple genre
s. Some draw on her experience as a social worker to dramatise contemporary issues, including teenage pregnancy
in Dear Nobody
(1991), adoption
in The Snake-Stone (1995), and African
AIDS
orphans and child trafficking
in her latest novel, Abela: The Girl Who Saw Lions (2007). A conservationist
, her story book Tilly Mint and the Dodo (1988) centres around the threat of species extinction. Spellhorn (1989) uses a fantasy
setting to explore the experience of blindness
. Several of her works have historical settings
, such as Street Child (1993), which is set in 1860s London
. Some of these are based on Doherty's own family history; Granny was a Buffer Girl
(1986) includes the story of her parents' marriage, while The Sailing Ship Tree (1998) draws on the lives of her father and grandfather.
Doherty has stated that she is inspired by landscape, admiring Thomas Hardy
for "the sense of people within a landscape" that his novels convey, and her works often have a strong sense of place. She now lives in Edale
, Derbyshire
in the Dark Peak
, and many of her books are set in the Peak District
. Children of Winter (1985) is loosely based on the story of the plague
village of Eyam
, and the drowning of the villages of Derwent
and Ashopton
by the Ladybower Reservoir
is recounted in Deep Secret (2004). The fantasy picture book Blue John (2003) was inspired by the Blue John Cavern
at Castleton.
Doherty often works with children and teenagers when developing her novels, having "a conviction that children are the experts and I can always learn from them." She read her first novel, How Green You Are! to one of her classes while working as a teacher in Sheffield
. Tough Luck (1987) was written as part of a writer's residency at a Doncaster
school, while her research for Spellhorn included extensive work with a group of blind children from a school in Sheffield.
Though best known for her works for children, Doherty has also written two novels for adults, Requiem (1991) and The Vinegar Jar (1994). On the differences between writing for children and adults, she has said, "Children need a good strong storyline. But they need sensitive writing and must be able to relate to the characters and the plot."
, which she describes as "a wonderful medium to write for, inviting as it does both writer and listener to use their imaginations, to 'see' with their mind's eye." She has also written several plays for the theatre, including both adaptations and original works. She has adapted two of her novels for television, White Peak Farm for BBC1
(1988) and Children of Winter for Channel 4
(1994). She also wrote the 2001 series Zzaap and the Word Master about two children trapped in cyberspace
, broadcast on BBC2
as part of the Look and Read
schools programming.
and features music by Julian Philips, composer in residence at Glyndebourne
. Her most recent libretto, for the chamber opera Wild Cat, was also commissioned by the Welsh National Opera as part of the trilogy 'Land, Sea, Sky' on the theme of conservation
, and was first performed in May 2007 by the WNO Singing Club (a youth group), directed by Nik Ashton. The libretto was partly translated into Welsh
by poet Menna Elfyn
, and the music was also composed by Philips.
Three commissions from the Lindsay Quartet were written to be read over live performances of their music. The Midnight Man was inspired by Debussy
's Quartet in G minor
, Blue John by Smetana
's string quartet From My Life
, and The Spell of the Toadman by Janáček
's string quartet Kreutzer Sonata. The Midnight Man and Blue John were later published as picture books. Doherty's daughter, Sally, has also set The Midnight Man for spoken and singing voices, flute, clarinet, cello and harp.
s. Dear Nobody also won the Sankei Award (1994) as well as a Writers' Guild Award for its adaptation (1991); it was included by The Guardian in a list of classics for young teens. Other awards include a Writers' Guild Award for Daughter of the Sea in 1997.
In 2002, the University of Derby
awarded Doherty an honorary doctorate.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
ist, poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
. She is best known for her children's books
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
, for which she has twice won the Carnegie Medal
Carnegie Medal
The Carnegie Medal is a literary award established in 1936 in honour of Scottish philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and given annually to an outstanding book for children and young adults. It is awarded by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals...
. Her other works include novels for adults, plays
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
for theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
and radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
, television series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
and libretti
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
for children's opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
.
Education and early career
Born at Knotty AshKnotty Ash
Knotty Ash is an area of Liverpool, Merseyside, England and a Liverpool City Council Ward. Historically within Lancashire, at the 2001 Census, the population was 13,200.-Description:...
in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
in 1943 to Walter Hollingsworth, Doherty was the youngest of three children. When she was four, the family moved to the seaside town of Hoylake
Hoylake
Hoylake is a seaside town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, on Merseyside, England. It is located at the north western corner of the Wirral Peninsula, near to the town of West Kirby and where the River Dee estuary meets the Irish Sea...
, the setting of several of her early books. She was encouraged to write by her father, from whom she later wrote that she had 'inherited stories'. A railway clerk by trade, he was also a keen writer whose poetry had been published in the local newspaper. Doherty soon followed suit, with her poetry and stories appearing on the children's pages of the Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
The Liverpool Echo is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is published Monday to Saturday, and is Liverpool's evening newspaper while its sister paper, the Liverpool Daily Post, is the morning paper...
and Hoylake News and Advertiser.
Doherty attended Upton Hall Convent School. She read English at the University of Durham (1965), and then studied social science at the University of Liverpool
University of Liverpool
The University of Liverpool is a teaching and research university in the city of Liverpool, England. It is a member of the Russell Group of large research-intensive universities and the N8 Group for research collaboration. Founded in 1881 , it is also one of the six original "red brick" civic...
. In 1978, after starting a family, she gained a postgraduate certificate in education at the University of Sheffield
University of Sheffield
The University of Sheffield is a research university based in the city of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. It is one of the original 'red brick' universities and is a member of the Russell Group of leading research intensive universities...
. A course in creative writing
Creative writing
Creative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems...
as part of the certificate led to a short story about the convent school; broadcast on local radio, it was to form the nucleus of Doherty's first adult novel, Requiem.
After employment as a social worker and teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
, Doherty spent two years writing and producing schools programmes for BBC Radio Sheffield
BBC Radio Sheffield
BBC Radio Sheffield is the BBC Local Radio service for English metropolitan county of South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire. This includes the city of Sheffield, plus Doncaster, Barnsley, Rotherham, Chesterfield and surrounding areas. It was the BBC local radio station, beginning on 15 November 1967...
.
Career as a writer
Doherty's first book, the children's novel How Green You Are!, was published in 1982. She became a full-time writer in 1983, and has written a total of over thirty novels and picture books for children and young adults. According to Philip PullmanPhilip Pullman
Philip Pullman CBE, FRSL is an English writer from Norwich. He is the best-selling author of several books, most notably his trilogy of fantasy novels, His Dark Materials, and his fictionalised biography of Jesus, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ...
, "Doherty’s strength has always been her emotional honesty."
Her books encompass multiple genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
s. Some draw on her experience as a social worker to dramatise contemporary issues, including teenage pregnancy
Teenage pregnancy
Teenage pregnancy is a pregnancy of a female under the age of 20 when the pregnancy ends. It generally refers to a female who is unmarried and usually refers to an unplanned pregnancy...
in Dear Nobody
Dear Nobody
Dear Nobody is a young adult novel by Berlie Doherty, published in 1991. Set in the northern English city of Sheffield, Dear Nobody tells the story of an unplanned teenage pregnancy and the effect it has on the teenagers and their families....
(1991), adoption
Adoption
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...
in The Snake-Stone (1995), and African
HIV/AIDS in Africa
HIV/AIDS is a major public health concern and cause of death in Africa. Although Africa is home to about 14.5% of the world's population, it is estimated to be home to 67% of all people living with HIV and to 72% of all AIDS deaths in 2009.-Overview:...
AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
orphans and child trafficking
Trafficking of children
Trafficking of children is a form of human trafficking. It is defined as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receiving of children for the purpose of exploitation....
in her latest novel, Abela: The Girl Who Saw Lions (2007). A conservationist
Conservation movement
The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental and a social movement that seeks to protect natural resources including animal, fungus and plant species as well as their habitat for the future....
, her story book Tilly Mint and the Dodo (1988) centres around the threat of species extinction. Spellhorn (1989) uses a fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
setting to explore the experience of blindness
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
. Several of her works have historical settings
Historical novel
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, a historical novel is-Development:An early example of historical prose fiction is Luó Guànzhōng's 14th century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which covers one of the most important periods of Chinese history and left a lasting impact on Chinese culture.The...
, such as Street Child (1993), which is set in 1860s London
History of London
London, the capital of the United Kingdom , has a recorded history that goes back over 2,000 years. During this time, it has grown to become one of the most significant financial and cultural capitals of the world. It has experienced plague, devastating fire, civil war, aerial bombardment and...
. Some of these are based on Doherty's own family history; Granny was a Buffer Girl
Granny Was a Buffer Girl
Granny Was a Buffer Girl is a young adult novel by Berlie Doherty, published in 1986. The novel recounts stories of love, loyalty and change in several generations of a Sheffield family from the 1930s to the 1980s, linking them to the changing fortunes of the industrial city...
(1986) includes the story of her parents' marriage, while The Sailing Ship Tree (1998) draws on the lives of her father and grandfather.
Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...
for "the sense of people within a landscape" that his novels convey, and her works often have a strong sense of place. She now lives in Edale
Edale
Edale is a small Derbyshire village and Civil parish in the Peak District, in the Midlands of England. The Parish of Edale,area ,is in the Borough of High Peak....
, Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
in the Dark Peak
Dark Peak
The Dark Peak is the higher, wilder northern part of the Peak District in England.It gets its name because , the underlying limestone is covered by a cap of Millstone Grit which means that in winter the soil is almost always saturated with water...
, and many of her books are set in the Peak District
Peak District
The Peak District is an upland area in central and northern England, lying mainly in northern Derbyshire, but also covering parts of Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, and South and West Yorkshire....
. Children of Winter (1985) is loosely based on the story of the plague
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
village of Eyam
Eyam
Eyam is a small village in Derbyshire, England. The village is best known for being the "plague village" that chose to isolate itself when the plague was discovered there in August 1665, rather than let the infection spread...
, and the drowning of the villages of Derwent
Derwent, Derbyshire
Derwent is a village 'drowned' under the Ladybower Reservoir in Derbyshire, England. The village of Ashopton, Derwent Woodlands church and Derwent Hall were also 'drowned' in the construction of the reservoir. There is no formal memorial to any of the villages...
and Ashopton
Ashopton
Ashopton was a village in Derbyshire, England, that was lost along with neighbouring Derwent when the Ladybower Reservoir was constructed in the late 1930s and early 1940s....
by the Ladybower Reservoir
Ladybower Reservoir
Ladybower Reservoir is a large Y-shaped reservoir, the lowest of three in the Upper Derwent Valley in Derbyshire, England. The River Ashop flows into the reservoir from the west; the River Derwent flows south, initially through Howden Reservoir, then Derwent Reservoir, and finally through Ladybower...
is recounted in Deep Secret (2004). The fantasy picture book Blue John (2003) was inspired by the Blue John Cavern
Blue John Cavern
The Blue John Cavern is one of the four show caves in Castleton, Derbyshire, England. The cavern, which takes its name from the semi-precious mineral "Blue John" or "Derbyshire Spar", is still mined for the mineral outside of the tourist season. The small amounts taken are turned into locally-made...
at Castleton.
Doherty often works with children and teenagers when developing her novels, having "a conviction that children are the experts and I can always learn from them." She read her first novel, How Green You Are! to one of her classes while working as a teacher in Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
. Tough Luck (1987) was written as part of a writer's residency at a Doncaster
Doncaster
Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...
school, while her research for Spellhorn included extensive work with a group of blind children from a school in Sheffield.
Though best known for her works for children, Doherty has also written two novels for adults, Requiem (1991) and The Vinegar Jar (1994). On the differences between writing for children and adults, she has said, "Children need a good strong storyline. But they need sensitive writing and must be able to relate to the characters and the plot."
Poetry
Her poetry collection Walking on Air was published in 1993, and her poems have also appeared in several anthologies. She edited the collection The Forsaken Merman and Other Story Poems (1998). Her poem 'Here lies a city's heart...', a Sheffield Arts commission, has been engraved on a Sheffield pavement.Drama
Doherty has written many plays for radioRadio drama
Radio drama is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance, broadcast on radio or published on audio media, such as tape or CD. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story...
, which she describes as "a wonderful medium to write for, inviting as it does both writer and listener to use their imaginations, to 'see' with their mind's eye." She has also written several plays for the theatre, including both adaptations and original works. She has adapted two of her novels for television, White Peak Farm for BBC1
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
(1988) and Children of Winter for Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
(1994). She also wrote the 2001 series Zzaap and the Word Master about two children trapped in cyberspace
Cyberspace
Cyberspace is the electronic medium of computer networks, in which online communication takes place.The term "cyberspace" was first used by the cyberpunk science fiction author William Gibson, though the concept was described somewhat earlier, for example in the Vernor Vinge short story "True...
, broadcast on BBC2
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
as part of the Look and Read
Look and Read
Look and Read is a BBC television programme for primary schools, aimed at improving children's literacy skills. The programme presents fictional stories in a serial format, the first of which was broadcast in 1967 and the most recent in 2004, making it the longest running nationally broadcast...
schools programming.
Works associated with music
Several of Doherty's works are intended to be accompanied by music. She has written the libretti for three children's operas. Daughter of the Sea was adapted from her novel of the same name, and was first performed by a group including the Lindsay String Quartet in 2004, with music composed by Richard Chew. The Magician's Cat (2004) was commissioned by the Welsh National OperaWelsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera is an opera company founded in Cardiff, Wales in 1943. The WNO tours Wales, the United Kingdom and the rest of the world extensively. Annually, it gives more than 120 performances of eight main stage operas to a combined audience of around 150,000 people...
and features music by Julian Philips, composer in residence at Glyndebourne
Glyndebourne
Glyndebourne is a country house, thought to be about six hundred years old, located near Lewes in East Sussex, England. It is also the site of an opera house which, with the exception of its closing during the Second World War, for a few immediate post-war years, and in 1993 during the...
. Her most recent libretto, for the chamber opera Wild Cat, was also commissioned by the Welsh National Opera as part of the trilogy 'Land, Sea, Sky' on the theme of conservation
Conservation ethic
Conservation is an ethic of resource use, allocation, and protection. Its primary focus is upon maintaining the health of the natural world: its, fisheries, habitats, and biological diversity. Secondary focus is on materials conservation and energy conservation, which are seen as important to...
, and was first performed in May 2007 by the WNO Singing Club (a youth group), directed by Nik Ashton. The libretto was partly translated into Welsh
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
by poet Menna Elfyn
Menna Elfyn
Menna Elfyn is a Welsh poet, playwright, columnist, and editor who writes with passion of the Welsh and identity. She has published ten volumes of poetry and a dozen more of children’s books and anthologies. She has also written eight plays for stage, six radio plays for BBC, two plays for...
, and the music was also composed by Philips.
Three commissions from the Lindsay Quartet were written to be read over live performances of their music. The Midnight Man was inspired by Debussy
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
's Quartet in G minor
String Quartet (Debussy)
Claude Debussy wrote his sole String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10 in 1893.-Background:The previous year Debussy had abandoned the opera Rodrigue et Chimène...
, Blue John by Smetana
Bedrich Smetana
Bedřich Smetana was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style which became closely identified with his country's aspirations to independent statehood. He is thus widely regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music...
's string quartet From My Life
String Quartet No. 1 (Smetana)
String Quartet No. 1 in E minor, written in 1876, is a four-movement Romantic chamber composition by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana.- Background :...
, and The Spell of the Toadman by Janáček
Leoš Janácek
Leoš Janáček was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and all Slavic folk music to create an original, modern musical style. Until 1895 he devoted himself mainly to folkloristic research and his early musical output was influenced by...
's string quartet Kreutzer Sonata. The Midnight Man and Blue John were later published as picture books. Doherty's daughter, Sally, has also set The Midnight Man for spoken and singing voices, flute, clarinet, cello and harp.
Awards
Doherty has twice won the prestigious Carnegie Medal, for Granny was a Buffer Girl (1986) and Dear Nobody (1991). Granny was a Buffer Girl was also an honour book in the 1988 Boston Globe-Horn Book AwardBoston Globe-Horn Book Award
The Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards were first presented by The Boston Globe and Horn Book Magazine in 1967. They are among the most prestigious honors in the United States in the field of children’s and young adult literature...
s. Dear Nobody also won the Sankei Award (1994) as well as a Writers' Guild Award for its adaptation (1991); it was included by The Guardian in a list of classics for young teens. Other awards include a Writers' Guild Award for Daughter of the Sea in 1997.
In 2002, the University of Derby
University of Derby
The University of Derby is a university in the city of Derby, England. The main site is on Kedleston Road, Allestree in the north-west of Derby close to the A38 opposite Markeaton Park...
awarded Doherty an honorary doctorate.
Personal life
Doherty lives with children's writer, Alan Brown. She has three children by a previous marriage. Her two daughters have both worked in collaboration with her; Janna Doherty illustrated Walking on Air and Tilly Mint and the Dodo, and Sally set Midnight Man and Daughter of the Sea to music.Novels for children and young adults
- How Green You Are! (1982)
- The Making of Fingers Finnigan (1983)
- Jeannie of White Peak Farm (1984; originally published as White Peak Farm; adapted for television 1988)
- Children of Winter (1985; adapted for television 1994)
- Granny was a Buffer GirlGranny Was a Buffer GirlGranny Was a Buffer Girl is a young adult novel by Berlie Doherty, published in 1986. The novel recounts stories of love, loyalty and change in several generations of a Sheffield family from the 1930s to the 1980s, linking them to the changing fortunes of the industrial city...
(1986; adapted for radio 2002/3) - Tough Luck (1987)
- Spellhorn (1989)
- Dear NobodyDear NobodyDear Nobody is a young adult novel by Berlie Doherty, published in 1991. Set in the northern English city of Sheffield, Dear Nobody tells the story of an unplanned teenage pregnancy and the effect it has on the teenagers and their families....
(1991; adapted for radio 1993 and television 1997) - Street Child (1993; adapted for radio 2000 and television)
- The Snake-Stone (1995; adapted for radio 2005)
- Daughter of the Sea (1996; libretto 2004)
- The Sailing Ship Tree (1998)
- The Snow Queen (1998; adapted from Hans Christian AndersenHans Christian AndersenHans Christian Andersen was a Danish author, fairy tale writer, and poet noted for his children's stories. These include "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," "The Snow Queen," "The Little Mermaid," "Thumbelina," "The Little Match Girl," and "The Ugly Duckling."...
) - Holly Starcross (2001)
- Deep Secret (2004)
- Abela: The Girl Who Saw Lions (2007)
- Cher inconnu(...)
Picture books, story books and short story collections
- Tilly Mint Tales (1984)
- Tilly Mint and the Dodo (1988)
- Paddiwak and Cosy (1988)
- Snowy (1992)
- Old Father Christmas (1993; retelling of story by Juliana Horatia EwingJuliana Horatia EwingJuliana Horatia Ewing was an English writer of children's stories.-Youth and marriage:Known as Julie, she was the second of ten children of the Reverend Alfred Gatty, vicar of Ecclesfield in Yorkshire, and Margaret Gatty, who was herself a children's author...
) - Willa and Old Miss Annie (1994)
- The Magical Bicycle (1995)
- The Golden Bird (1995)
- Our Field (1996; retelling of story by Juliana Horatia Ewing)
- Running on Ice (1997)
- Bella's Den (1997)
- Tales of Wonder and Magic (edited; 1997)
- The Midnight Man (1998)
- The Famous Adventures of Jack (2000)
- Fairy Tales (2000)
- Zzaap and the Word Master (2001; accompanied by television series)
- The Nutcracker (2002)
- Coconut Comes to School (2002)
- Tricky Nelly's Birthday Treat (2003)
- Blue John (2003)
- The Starburster (2004)
- Jinnie Ghost (2005)
- The Humming Machine (2006)
Poetry collections
- Walking on Air (1993)
- Big Bulgy Fat Black Slugs (1993; with Joy CowleyJoy CowleyCassia "Joy" Cowley, DCNZM, OBE is a New Zealand author of novels, short stories, and children's fiction.Her first novel, Nest in a Fallen Tree , was converted into the 1971 film The Night Digger by Roald Dahl...
and June Melser) - The Forsaken Merman and Other Story Poems (edited; 1998)
Novels for adults
- Requiem (1991; expanded from radio play of 1982)
- The Vinegar Jar (1994)
Selected plays*, radio plays
- The Drowned Village (1980)
- Unlucky for Some (1980)
- Home (1982)
- A Case for Probation (1983)
- Sacrifice (1985)
- Return to the Ebro (1986; adapted as a radio play as There's a Valley in Spain, 1990)*
- The Sleeping Beauty (1993)*
Libretti for children's opera
- Daughter of the Sea (2004)
- The Magician's Cat (2004)
- Wildcat (2007)