Ruth Sasha Moorsom was born at Ramsdean End in Hampshire on 25 January 1931, the daughter of Raisley Stewart Moorsom and Roberta Isobel Moorsom (née Thomson). She was partly brought up in South Africa and was educated at Bedales School and Girton College, Cambridge. She married Michael Young (from 1978, Lord Young of Dartington) in 1961, with whom she had one son and one daughter.

She worked in radio at the BBC, producing documentaries, features and... drama for the Third Programme, 1953-61. She was editor of the magazine "Where?", 1962-4, and a regular contributor to "The Listener". She collaborated with her husband on many projects, including establishing the International Extension College in Mauritius and Africa; editing course books for the Open College of the Arts; and helping with the launch of Health Line. She was a poet, novelist, ceramic sculptor, and the translator of Perrault's fairy tales. She died at her home in Islington on 22 June 1993.

Her publications include: "A Lavender Trip" (1976); "In the Shadow of the Paradise Tree" (1983); and "Your Head in Mine" (1994), a posthumous collection of poems with Michael Young edited by her daughter Sophie Young.