Born in Surrey, Sutcliff left school at fourteen to take up painting. She began to suffer from arthritis, which caused her to be confined to a wheelchair for most of her adult life.
Her career as a writer began in 1950. In 1959, she won the Carnegie Medal for The Lantern Bearers. She became one of the UK's top children's writers, a status she did not relinquish until her death, but she also wrote for adults.
Books