Susan Mary Cooper (born 23 May 1935) is a British author best known for The Dark Is Rising, an award-winning five-volume fantasy saga set in and around England and Wales. The books incorporate traditional British mythology (Arthurian and folkloric elements) with original material (e.g. "the Old Ones"). She has written works for children, adolescents and adults.
Susan Cooper is also a board member of the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance, a not-for-profit organization in the U.S. that actively advocates for literacy, literature, and libraries.
Born in 1935, in Burnham, Buckinghamshire, Susan Cooper lived in Buckinghamshire until she was 21, when her parents moved to her grandmother's village of Aberdovey, Wales. She attended Slough High School and then earned a degree in English from the University of Oxford.