Doris Lessing
Sign in to saveBritish novelist, poet, playwright, librettist, biographer, and short story writer (1919–2013)
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Doris Lessing was a British writer who worked across multiple forms including novels, poetry, plays, and short stories during a long career spanning most of the twentieth century. She matters because her diverse body of work explored complex themes of politics, identity, and human experience, making her one of the significant literary voices of her era.
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Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1919
- Died
- 17 November 2013
- Works
- 316
Top works
- Prentice Hall Literature -- Platinum
- A ripple from the storm
- In pursuit of the English
- A small personal voice
- Five short novels
via Open Library + Wikidata
Listeners · Last.fm
- Listeners
- 145
- Total plays
- 1,904
Article
Doris May Lessing (née Tayler; 22 October 1919 – 17 November 2013) was a British novelist – sometimes identified as Rhodesian early in her career – and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2007. Lessing was born to British parents in Qajar Iran, where she lived until she was 6 in 1925. Her family then moved to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where she remained until moving to London, England, in 1949. Her novels include The Grass Is Singing (1950), the sequence of five novels collectively called Children of Violence (1952–1969), The Golden Notebook (1962), The Good Terrorist (1985), and five novels collectively known as Canopus in Argos: Archives (1979–1983).
Lessing was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature. In awarding the prize, the Swedish Academy described her as "that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny". Lessing was the oldest person ever to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, at age 87.
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1919 births2013 deaths20th-century British dramatists and playwrights20th-century British essayists20th-century British women poets20th-century English novelists20th-century English poets20th-century short story writers20th-century Zimbabwean women writers20th-century Zimbabwean writers21st-century British essayists21st-century British novelists