Ollivant (1874-1927) was an English novelist best known for his first novel Owd Bob (1898), which is set in rural Cumbria in northern England and concerns a suspected sheepkilling collie dog, Bob. Even though most of the book's dialogue is written in Cumbrian dialect it became popular in the US and Ollivant published a sequel, Danny, in 1902. This novel subtitled A Romance of Sussex was published in 1919 with a sequel, One Woman, following in 1921. In addition to his novels, Ollivant also contributed short stories to The Atlantic Monthly and The Boston Evening Transcript.