Literary Birthday – 21 February – Jilly Cooper

Jilly Cooper was born 21 February 1937 and died 5 October 2025.

Jilly Cooper Quotes

1. We all need the pipe dream of writing the great novel, or winning the pools, or becoming managing director and kicking all our colleagues in the teeth. The world is deep and dark and full of tigers, and we need those shimmering white castles in the air to creep into when life gets unbearable.
2. People who can write a book usually do.
3. Jeffrey Archer and I long for a kind word in the Guardian, while literary writers have lots and lots of kind words in the Guardian but probably long for Jeffrey’s and my sales. It must be irritating.
4. I’ll tell you what keeps me going – cash.
5. The letter of application … should be a masterpiece of fiction, papering over all the cracks. Get it properly typed on decent writing paper. Never let it run over the page, people get bored with reading.

Jilly Cooper was an English author of popular fiction. She began her career as a journalist and wrote numerous works of non-fiction before writing several romance novels. Her first book, How to Stay Married, was published in 1969. She is most famous for writing the Rutshire Chronicles, which include Polo, Riders, and Rivals. She was appointed OBE in 2004 for services to literature. She  was appointed CBE in 2018 for services to Literature and Charity, and was made DBE in 2024. Visit her website here: Jilly Cooper

Source for image: Author’s website

by Amanda Patterson

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