Background
Hendry was born in the Wirral, England, one of three children.
Hendry was born in the Wirral, England, one of three children.
She worked for a time as a journalist in print and radio, including a post at The Western Mail in Cardiff (1960-1965). She took a degree when she was 39 years old at the University of Bristol. She wrote "As luck would have it my professor’s wife was the author Diana Wynne Jones, who saw my writing and suggested a publisher." This began a successful writing career.
She taught English at a boys" school and later creative writing at the University of Bristol (1995-1997).
Her collections of poetry for adults include Making Blue (Peterloo, 1995), Borderers (Peterloo, 2001) and Twelve Lilts: Psalms & Responses (Mariscat Press, 2003) and Late Love: And Other Whodunnits (2008). She tutors at the Arvon Foundation and writes for the Spectator.
Her influences include novelist Charles Langbridge Morgan, Albert Camus, Muriel Spark, Elizabeth Bishop and Seamus Heaney. 1976: First prize Stroud International Poetry Competition.