Background and Career
She was educated at the University of London, Goldsmiths College, and at Middlesex University, where from 2000-2008 she was programme leader on the MA Creative Writing. She currently teaches at the Faber Academy, and is a mentor on the Write to Life programme at Freedom from Torture.
Her first novel, Spring Will Be Ours, was inspired by Marek Mayer's Polish background. It delineates the period 1939-1981 - from the German occupation at the start of WWII to the period of Solidarity and martial law. Its title comes from graffiti scrawled on the walls of Warsaw in 1981: Winter is yours, but spring will be ours. Later novels are both historical and contemporary.
She is also the author of many short stories, and of a Radio 4 drama, Ancient & Modern, broadcast in 2004 with Juliet Stevenson in the lead role.
Famous quotes containing the words background and, background and/or career:
“I had many problems in my conduct of the office being contrasted with President Kennedy’s conduct in the office, with my manner of dealing with things and his manner, with my accent and his accent, with my background and his background. He was a great public hero, and anything I did that someone didn’t approve of, they would always feel that President Kennedy wouldn’t have done that.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“I had many problems in my conduct of the office being contrasted with President Kennedy’s conduct in the office, with my manner of dealing with things and his manner, with my accent and his accent, with my background and his background. He was a great public hero, and anything I did that someone didn’t approve of, they would always feel that President Kennedy wouldn’t have done that.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“Clearly, society has a tremendous stake in insisting on a woman’s natural fitness for the career of mother: the alternatives are all too expensive.”
—Ann Oakley (b. 1944)