Holtby, Winifred (1898–1935)

English novelist and journalist. She was an ardent advocate of women's freedom and of racial equality. Her novel South Riding (1936), set in her native Yorkshire, was awarded the Tait Black Memorial Prize and was subsequently filmed and televised. Her other works include an analysis of women's position in contemporary society, Women in a Changing Civilization (1934).

She was born in Rudstone, Yorkshire, and educated at Oxford University. In 1921 she moved to London, where she worked for the periodical Time and Tide. She also travelled in Europe, lecturing for the League of Nations Union. Among her other novels are Anderby Wold (1932), The Crowded Street (1924), The Land of Green Ginger (1927), Poor Caroline (1931), and Mandoa! Mandoa! (1933).