Shirley du Boulay

Shirley du Boulay (4 March 1933 – 7 March 2023) was a British author and biographer, resident of Oxford.

Educated at Downe House School and the Royal College of Music, she embarked on a career with the BBC in 1954, initially as a studio manager, then becoming a programme producer of Radio 4's 'Woman's Hour'. She moved to television and specialized in religious programming.

She resigned from the BBC in 1978, and started to work as an author. Her biographical subjects tend to be individuals who have taken a spiritual journey of their own, and whose subsequent influence has been important.

She was married to the former Jesuit priest and columnist for The Tablet, John Harriott, until his death at the end of 1990.

Her interests included psychology, music, walking, gardening and meditation. She was a patron of the Prison Phoenix Trust and a Trustee of the Oxford Zendo.

Her books have been translated into French, Japanese, German, Italian, Dutch and Polish.