Ursula Holden

Notable Works

• Endless Race (1975)
• Tin Toys (1987)
• A Bubble Garden (1989)

About

Ursula Holden was born in August 1921, in Bridport, Dorset, daughter of Una and Andrew Holden. Her father worked abroad, mostly in Egypt and Holden was educated by a governess before high school, then boarding at St Michael’s School, Bognor Regis. After World War II, Holden went to Ireland where she became a model in Dublin Art School. She married William Dixon (divorced 1970) and had 3 daughters. She lived in London all her adult life. At a creative writing class at Chiswick Polytechnic in 1968 she began to realise her talent for writing. After being signed by the John Johnson Literary Agency, her first novel, Endless Race, was published when she was 54. Admiring her work, the editor of London Magazine, Alan Ross, fostered Holden’s career until his death in 2001.

Holden was the author of thirteen novels often inspired by her time spent in Ireland. In 2013 Virago reprinted Tin Toys Trilogy: Tin Toys (1986) Unicorn Sisters (1988) A Bubble Garden (1989). She wrote introductions to several novels published by Virago and intermittently wrote for The Oldie magazine. She never sought fame and wrote daily:  ‘I write to live and live to write’. Holden’s dedication to writing was recognised by the Royal Society of Literature. She died in May 2020 at the age of 98. Throughout her career she was supported by the RLF. A photo portrait of her by Fay Godwin is in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Legacy

Herself a beneficiary of the RLF throughout her career, her gift of Royalties from her literary estate helps the RLF support future generations of writers.