Fay Weldon
1931–2023
English novelist, playwright and screenwriter, born Franklin Birkinshaw in Birmingham and raised largely in New Zealand. She studied economics and psychology at the University of St Andrews, then worked as an advertising copywriter. She wrote the first episode of Upstairs, Downstairs (1971) and adapted Pride and Prejudice for the BBC in 1980. Her first novel, The Fat Woman’s Joke, appeared in 1967; later books include Puffball and The Life and Loves of a She-Devil. She chaired the Booker judges in 1983 and was appointed CBE in 2001. She died in January 2023. Praxis was shortlisted for the 1979 Booker Prize.
Works
- Praxis (1978)
Prizes
- Praxis — The Booker Prize 1979: Shortlist