Kristin Linklater was born in 1936 and brought up in the Orkneys. Her father was the novelist Eric Linklater, and her brothers, Magnus and Andro, are both writers. She trained in London at LAMDA before moving to the USA to work with a number of well-known theatres there, returning occasionally to work with the RSC. She has just retired as Professor of Theatre Arts at Columbia University, New York.