Susan Elderkin is a writer, critic, bibliotherapist and creative writing teacher. Her first novel, Sunset over Chocolate Mountains (Fourth Estate, 2000) was awarded a Betty Trask prize for first novels; her second, The Voices, (Fourth Estate, 2003), was shortlisted for the Ondaatje Prize for books which evoke the spirit of a place. Both have been translated into many languages. In 2003, Susan was listed by Granta Magazine as one of the top twenty Best Young British Writers of the decade.

In 2008, Susan and her friend Ella Berthoud founded the Bibliotherapy Service at The School of Life in London, through which they and their team have offered bibliotherapy to thousands of readers around the world. Together they make regular appearances at literary and music festivals, prescribing books from their vintage ambulance, and speaking widely on the radio and in the national press about the importance of reading. (In 2019 Susan gave a TEDx talk on how Anna Burns’s novel, Milkman, cured her of being too busy to read.) In 2013, Susan and Ella published The Novel Cure: An A-Z of Literary Remedies (Canongate 2013), which has since been adapted in 20 countries, including India, Russia and Brazil. This was followed by The Story Cure: Books to Keep Kids Happy, Healthy and Wise (Canongate, 2016). For two years they wrote a weekly column in the Independent on Saturday, prescribing cures for contemporary ailments.

Susan has taught creative writing at every level, from Arvon courses to the MA courses at Birkbeck, Goldsmith’s, City and Manchester universities. She has worked with specially gifted writers, with teenagers from inner city schools, and with asylum seekers and refugees from the Middle East and Africa. She continues to teach Arvon courses as well as her own writing courses and retreats, and has a loyal following of students, many of whom have gone on to publish themselves.

She is married to the American neuroscientist, Ash Ranpura. After several years of living in the States, they and their son are now based in Somerset.