Frances Spalding is an art historian, critic, and leading authority on twentieth-century British art. Her books include acclaimed biographies of Roger Fry, Vanessa Bell, John Minton, Duncan Grant, Gwen Raverat, and John and Myfanwy Piper, as well as a biography of the poet Stevie Smith. She is emeritus fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge, a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Art. In 2005, she was made a CBE for services to literature.