Elsie Finnimore Buckley

Elsie Finnimore Buckley (1 August 1882 – 6 June 1959[2]) was an English writer and translator.

Buckley was born in Calcutta, the daughter of Robert Burton Buckley, a civil engineer, and Ada Marian Sarah Finnimore. She was educated at Girton College, Cambridge. In March 1899, at age 16, Buckley won a gold medal in the Société Nationale des Professeurs de Français en Angleterre's annual French language and literature competition.[3] She married the writer Anthony Ludovici on 20 March 1920, and they first lived at 35 Central Hill, Upper Norwood in South London.[4]

In Children of the Dawn, Old Tales of Greece (1909), it is noted that the writer possesses a terse simplicity of style, and that the book is an "almost inexhaustible treasure-house of the ancient Greek tales".[5] However, because the book was considered to be on a serious topic, a reviewer at the time said: "The plain truth is that this is not woman's work, and a woman has neither the knowledge nor the literary tact necessary for it."[6]

Essays from her book of Greek tales for children, Children of the Dawn, have appeared in other collections aimed at the younger audience.[7][8] The tales are still included in bibliographies of books on ancient cultures for young readers.[9]