Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957) was a British novelist, translator and apologist for the Christian faith. She was born in Oxford, England where her father, the Rev. Henry Sayers, was chaplain of Christ Church and headmaster of the Choir School. Sayers's mother was Helen Mary Leigh. Her father was subsequently posted to the village of Bluntisham, Cambridgeshire where he served as rector.

Sayers entered Somerville College, Oxford in 1912 and completed there with first-class honors in 1916. She graduated from Oxford in 1920 with the M.A.

After numerous relationships with men, she found herself pregnant by Bill White in 1923. She hid this fact from her parents and John Anthony was born January 3, 1924. He was promptly turned over to her aunt and cousin Amy and Ivy Amy Shipton with the understanding that her parents where never to find out John Anthony's origin.

On April 8, 1926 she married Captain Oswald Atherton "Mac" Fleming, a divorced Scottish journalist. They made their home at 24 Great James Street, St. Pancras, where both continued their writing careers. Sayers became a member of the Oxford group of writers that included C. S. Lewis, Charles Williams and J. R. R. Tolkein (the "Inklings").

Sayers worked as a copywriter in S. H. Benson's advertising agency (1922-1931), as she began to pursue a writing career. Her first book Op. 1, a book of poetry, was published in 1916. During her years at Benson's she developed the character of Lord Peter Wimsey and in the subsequent years she published 15 novels and short stories based on his character. She also wrote other crime stories during this time.

The work that Sayers felt was her best work was her translation of Dante's Divine Comedy. She completed translating the first two volumes (1949-1952) of the Dante work and had begun the translation work on volume three when she died in 1957. Barbara Reynolds completed the translation of the third volume.