author
Cecil Roberts
1892–1976
An English journalist, poet, dramatist, and novelist, he built a wide-ranging career that moved from local newspapers to war correspondence, fiction, travel writing, and memoir. His books often drew on a life spent observing people and places with a reporter’s eye.
1 Audiobook
Scissors : A novel of youth
by Cecil Roberts
About the author
Born in Nottingham on May 18, 1892, Cecil Roberts was the pen name of Edric Cecil Mornington Roberts. He began publishing poetry while still young, then worked in journalism, including at the Liverpool Post during the First World War and later as editor of the Nottingham Journal.
Over the years he became known as a remarkably versatile writer, producing novels, poems, plays, biographies, travel books, and autobiographical works. His long career also included public life beyond publishing: he stood for Parliament as a Liberal candidate in 1922, and during the Second World War he worked for Lord Halifax, the British ambassador to the United States.
Roberts continued writing for decades and published more than thirty novels alongside his nonfiction. He died in Rome on December 20, 1976, leaving behind a large and varied body of work that reflects both literary ambition and a lifelong journalist’s curiosity.