Dodie Smith was an English children’s novelist and playwright, known best for the novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians (1956). Other works include I Capture the Castle (1948), and The Starlight Barking (1967). The Hundred and One Dalmatians was adapted into a 1961 Disney animated movie version.

Her novel I Capture the Castle was adapted into a 2003 movie version. I Capture the Castle was voted number 82 as “one of the nation’s 100 best-loved novels” by the British public as part of the BBC’s The Big Read (2003).