Fay Weldon (1931–2023,) born Franklin Birkinshaw, was a British novelist, dramatist, television screenwriter, and feminist. Her celebrated novels vividly portray the burgeoning feminist consciousness of the 1970s and intricately explore the dynamics of gender, societal norms, and power structures.
Born in Alvechurch, Worcestershire, Weldon was brought up in New Zealand but returned to England in her early twenties and attended University of St. Andrews. She became a successful advertising copywriter before publishing her first novel, The Fat Woman’s Joke (1967,) which highlighted her distinctive voice and exploration of feminist themes.
Throughout her career, Weldon’s writings consistently revolved around themes concerning women’s sexuality and their experiences within a patriarchal world. Some of her notable works include The Life and Loves of a She-Devil (1983,) featuring an unattractive and scorned protagonist seeking retribution, Puffball (1980,) delving into pregnancy and womanhood, and The Cloning of Joanna May (1989,) a contemplation of genetic engineering.
Later works include Wicked Women (1995,) Worst Fears (1996,) The Bulgari Connection (2001,) Mantrapped (2004,) in which a woman wakes up as a man, and a memoir, Auto da Fay (2002.) Weldon also wrote several works for stage, radio, and television, including the pilot episode for the popular television series Upstairs Downstairs.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Fay Weldon
If you do nothing unexpected, nothing unexpected happens.
—Fay Weldon
Topics: Action
You end up as you deserve. In old age you must put up with the face, the friends, the health, and the children you have earned.
—Fay Weldon
Topics: Age, Aging
Young women especially have something invested in being nice people, and it’s only when you have children that you realize you’re not a nice person at all, but generally a selfish bully.
—Fay Weldon
Topics: Mothers
Worry less about what other people think about you, and more about what you think about them.
—Fay Weldon
Topics: Worry
We shelter children for a time; we live side by side with men; and that is all. We owe them nothing, and are owed nothing. I think we owe our friends more, especially our female friends.
—Fay Weldon
Topics: Friends and Friendship
Novelists… fashioning nets to sustain and support the reader as he falls helplessly through the chaos of his own existence.
—Fay Weldon
Topics: Writing
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