Sue Shephard

Sue Shephard was an award-winning television producer/director and a commissioning editor at Channel 4 until she switched to being a full-time writer. Several of her television series explored the culture and history of food and gardening, so it was natural for her to dig deeper in this popular area when she became a writer. UNITED TASTES OF AMERICA, written with Dorinda Hafner, was published by Ebury in 1997 to accompany her television series. Sue’s second book was PICKLED, POTTED & CANNED, a history of food preserving, published by Headline in the UK in 2000 and Simon & Schuster in the US. Its reviews were terrific and it received the Special Commendation in the 2001 André Simon awards. SEEDS OF FORTUNE: A GARDENING DYNASTY about a Victorian horticultural nursery was published by Bloomsbury in 2003 to equal acclaim.

Sue Shephard has most recently written a major biography of Constance Spry, remembered today for her ground-breaking cookery bible THE CONSTANCE SPRY COOKERY BOOK and her innovative and influential flower arrangements. An unconventional woman, Spry was someone who believed everyone had a right to education and to enjoy beauty but suffered personal unhappiness in her own life. THE SURPRISING LIFE OF CONSTANCE SPRY was published by Macmillan in 2010, to tie in with the 50th anniversary of Constance Spry’s death.
Sue lives in Bristol with her writer/historian husband Ben Shephard and their family.