Ingeborg Day (née Seiler; November 6, 1940 – May 18, 2011) was an Austrian–American author who wrote the semi-autobiographical erotic novel ''

Nine and a Half Weeks 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Hindu–Arabic digit Circa 300 BC, as part of the Brahmi numerals, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bot ...

'' which she published under the pseudonym Elizabeth McNeill and which was made into the 1986 film of the same name starring

Kim Basinger Kimila Ann Basinger ( ; born December 8, 1953) is an American actress. She has garnered acclaim for her work in film, for which she has received various accolades including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a ...

and

Mickey Rourke Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke Jr. ( ; born September 16, 1952) is an American actor and former professional Boxing, boxer who has appeared primarily as a leading actor, leading man in drama, action, and thriller films. In a Mickey Rourke filmogra ...

Life

Day was born in

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, in November 1940. Her father, Ernst Seiler, was a member of the Nazi SS organization. She spent the last two years of the war on her grandmother's farm. In 1957, as a high school student, she participated in the AFS exchange program, living with an American family for one year and attending Eastwood High School in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...

. She met and married a trainee priest named Dennis Day, and they moved to Indiana, where she attained a B.A. in German studies from

Goshen College Goshen College is a Private college, private Mennonite Church USA, Mennonite Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Goshen, Indiana. It was founded in 1894 as the Elkhart Institute of Science, Industry and the Arts, a ...

, and spent several years teaching in

Kenosha, Wisconsin Kenosha () is a city in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Wisconsin, fourth-most populous city in Wisconsin, with a population of 99,986 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. S ...

. They had a daughter, Ursula, in 1963, and a son, Mark, who died at the age of seven. Day left her husband and moved to Manhattan with artist Tom Shannon and became an editor at '' Ms'' magazine. It was during this time that the affair happened that is portrayed in ''9½ Weeks''. In 1978, she published the novel ''9½ Weeks'' under the pseudonym Elizabeth McNeill. In 1980, she published her memoir ''Ghost Waltz''. In 1991, she married Donald Sweet, a man 14 years her senior. They moved to

Ashland, Oregon Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. It lies along Interstate 5 in Oregon, Interstate 5 approximately 16 miles (26 km) north of the California border and near the south end of the Rogue Valley. The city's population w ...

, shortly after the wedding. She died by suicide on May 18, 2011, aged 70. Her husband died four days later.

Books

: A Memoir of a Love Affair (1978,

E. P. Dutton E. P. Dutton was an American book publishing company. It was founded as a book retailer in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1852 by Edward Payson Dutton. Since 1986, it has been an imprint of Penguin Group. Creator Edward Payson Dutton (January 1, ...

) *''Ghost Waltz: A Memoir'' (1980,

Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheimer and then acqu ...

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Day, Ingeborg 1940 births 2011 deaths American women novelists Austrian emigrants to the United States 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers Suicides in Oregon 2011 suicides 21st-century American women