Fay Weldon

Fay Weldon CBE (born 22 September 1931) is an English author, essayist and playwright, whose work has been associated with feminism. In her fiction, Weldon typically portrays contemporary women who find themselves trapped in oppressive situations caused by the patriarchal structure of British society.

Biography

Weldon was born Franklin Birkinshaw in Alvechurch, Worcestershire, England to a literary family, with both her maternal grandfather, Edgar Jepson (1863–1938), and her mother Margaret writing novels (the latter under the nom de plume Pearl Bellairs, alter-ego of the eponymous character in Aldous Huxley's short story, "Farcical History of Richard Greenow"). Weldon spent her early years in Auckland, New Zealand, where her father worked as a doctor. At the age of 14, after her parents' divorce, she returned to England with her mother and her sister Jane – never to see her father again. While in England she attended South Hampstead High School.

She studied psychology and economics at St Andrews, Scotland but returned to London after giving birth to a son. Soon afterwards she married her first husband, Ronald Bateman, who was a headmaster 25 years her seniorEmine Saner The Guardian, 22 August 2009 and not the natural father of her child, and moved to Acton, London. She left him after two years, and the marriage ended.

In order to support herself and her son, and provide for his...
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