Elspeth Barker (1940-2022) was a novelist and journalist. She was born in 1940 in Edinburgh. Her first husband was the poet George Barker. Her novel O Caledonia won four awards and was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize. She wrote for the Independent on Sunday, Guardian, Sunday Times, Observer, LRB, TLS, Scotland on Sunday, Vogue, The Literary Review and many more.