Margaret Drabble was born on June 5, 1939 in Sheffield, England. She attended The Mount School in York and later Cambridge University. Her novel "The Millstone won the John Llewelyn Rhys Prize and she was the recipient of the James Tait Black and E. M. Forster awards. She was also awarded a Society of Authors Travelling Fellowship in the 1960s and the CBE in 1980.