author
John Presland
1885–1975
Known to many readers by a masculine pen name, this Australian-born writer built a long career in Britain as a poet, novelist, and playwright. Her work ranged from historical fiction and verse to books for younger readers, giving “John Presland” a surprisingly wide literary footprint.
3 Audiobooks
Lynton and Lynmouth: A Pageant of Cliff & Moorland
by John Presland
Poems of London, and Other Verses
by John Presland
The Deluge, and Other Poems
by John Presland
About the author
Born in Australia in 1885, Gladys Skelton wrote under the pseudonym John Presland, the name attached to many of her books. Reliable sources describe her as an Australian-born writer who later lived in the United Kingdom, where she published poetry, novels, and plays across several decades.
Her writing appears to have been notably varied. Reference sources connect the John Presland name with fiction, verse, and dramatic work, while library and archival records show a substantial body of published and unpublished material. Project Gutenberg’s listings also suggest that a number of her works remained in circulation long after first publication, helping modern readers rediscover her.
She died in 1975. Archival records from Cambridge identify her more fully as Gladys Williams Skelton Bendit, which helps link the pseudonym, her later name, and the surviving papers connected with her literary life.