Michèle Brigitte Roberts

FRSL The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the ...

(born 20 May 1949) is a British writer, novelist and poet. She is the daughter of a French Catholic teacher mother (Monique Caulle) and English Protestant father (Reginald Roberts), and has dual UK–France nationality.

Early life

Roberts was born to a French Catholic mother and English Protestant father in Bushey, Hertfordshire, England, but was raised in

Edgware Edgware () is a suburban town in northwest London. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex east of the ancient Watling Street in what is now the London Borough of Barnet but it is now informally considered to cover a wider area, inc ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

. She was educated at a convent, expecting to become a nun, before reading English at

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. It began admitting men in 1994. The colle ...

, where she lost her Catholic faith. She also studied at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

, training to be a librarian. She worked for the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

, in this role from 1973 to 1974.

Career

Active in socialist and feminist politics (the

Women's Liberation Movement The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism. It emerged in the late 1960s and continued till the 1980s, primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which resulted in g ...

) since the early 1970s, she formed a writers' collective with

Sara Maitland Sara Maitland (born 27 February 1950) is a British writer of religious fantasy. A novelist, she is also known for her short stories. Her work has a magic realist tendency. Life and career Sarah (later "Sara") Louise MaitlandGenealogies of Kent ...

, Michelene Wandor and Zoe Fairbairns. At this time, Roberts was the Poetry Editor (1975–77) at ''

Spare Rib ''Spare Rib'' was a second-wave feminist magazine, founded in 1972 in the United Kingdom, that emerged from the counterculture of the late 1960s as a consequence of meetings involving, among others, Rosie Boycott and Marsha Rowe. ''Spare Rib'' ...

'', the feminist magazine, and later at ''

City Limits City limits or city boundaries refer to the defined boundary (real estate), boundary or border of a city. The area within the city limit can be called the city proper. Town limit/boundary and village limit/boundary apply to towns and villages. ...

'' (1981–83). Her first novel, ''A Piece of the Night'', was published in 1978. Her 1992 novel ''Daughters of the House'' was shortlisted for the

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...

, and won the 1993

WH Smith Literary Award The WH Smith Literary Award was an award founded in 1959 by British high street retailer WH Smith to "encourage and bring international esteem to authors of the British Commonwealth". Originally open to all residents of the UK, the Commonwealth ...

. ''Paper Houses'', a memoir of her life since 1970, was published in 2007: "Drawing on her diaries of the period, she brings back a more political, though also hedonistic era of radical feminism, communes and demonstrations. And the friendships she made and has kept ever since, notably with fellow feminist writers such as Sara Maitland, Micheline Wandor and Alison Fell. Roberts also self-analyzes the effects of her Anglo-French family’s Catholicism ('the nun in my head, that monstrous Mother Superior'), which have remained a fertile source, even as she reacted against its overt doctrines. Her exploration of London, the various areas and houses that she lived in, went alongside her development as a writer. For her, writing 'meant voyaging into the unknown and having adventures' though also 'bearing witness to other people’s stories as well as my own'." In her 2020 work, ''Negative Capability: A Diary of Surviving'', Roberts documents a period of crisis following the rejection of a novel she was writing by her publisher and agent. The title is taken from a quotation by

Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tub ...

. Roberts is an Emeritus Professor of Creative Writing at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

and was visiting professor in Writing at

Nottingham Trent University Nottingham Trent University (NTU) is a public research university located in Nottingham, England. Its origins date back to 1843 with the establishment of the Nottingham School of Design, Nottingham Government School of Design, which still opera ...

for several years.

Honours and recognition

Roberts was elected as a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 800 Fellows, elect ...

in 1999. She is a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, awarded by the French government, but turned down an

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

as a consequence of her republican views.

Publications

Essays

*''Food, Sex & God: on Inspiration and Writing'', 1988,

Virago Press Virago is a British publisher of women's writing and books on feminist topics. Started and run by women in the 1970s and bolstered by the success of the Women's Liberation Movement (WLM), Virago has been credited as one of several British femin ...

Novels

*'' A Piece of the Night'', 1978,

Women's Press The Women's Press was a feminist publishing company established in London in 1977. Throughout the late 1970s and the 1980s, The Women's Press was a highly visible presence, publishing feminist literature. Founding In 1977, Stephanie Dowrick cofo ...

*''The Visitation'', 1983, Women's Press *'' The Wild Girl'' (also known as ''The Secret Gospel of Mary Magdalene''), 1984, Methuen *''The Book of Mrs Noah'', 1987, Methuen *''In the Red Kitchen'', 1990, Methuen *''Daughters of the House'', 1992, Virago and Morrow (USA) *''Flesh & Blood'', 1994, Virago *''Impossible Saints'', 1998, Ecco Press *''Fair Exchange'', 1999,

Little, Brown Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries, it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emil ...

*''The Looking Glass'', 2000, Little, Brown *''The Mistressclass'', 2002, Little, Brown *''Reader, I Married Him'', 2006, Little, Brown *''Ignorance'', 2012,

Bloomsbury Publishing Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. Bloomsbury's head office is located on Bedford Square in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a US publishing office located in ...

*''The Walworth Beauty'', 2017, Bloomsbury *''Cut Out'', 2021, Sandstone Press,

Poetry

*''Touch Papers: Three Women Poets'' (with Michelene Wandor and Judith Kazantzis), 1982,

Allison and Busby Allison & Busby (A & B) is a publishing house based in London established by Clive Allison and Margaret Busby in 1967. The company has built up a reputation as a leading independent publisher. Background Launching as a publishing company in May ...

*''The Mirror of the Mother'', 1986, Methuen *''Psyche and the Hurricane '', 1991, Methuen *''All the Selves I Was'', 1995, Virago

Short stories

*''Your Shoes'', 1991BBC English literature.
/ref> *''During Mother's Absence'', 1993, Virago *''How Maxine Learned to Love her Legs: And Other Short Stories'', 1995, Aurora Metro Books *''Playing Sardines'', 2001, Virago *''Mud: Stories of Sex and Love'', 2010, Virago

Memoir

*''Paper Houses: A Memoir of the 70s and Beyond'', 2007, Virago, ; paperback 2008, *''Negative Capability: A Diary of Surviving'', 2020, Sandstone Press,

Bibliography

* Maria Soraya García-Sánchez: ''Travelling in Women's History with Michèle Roberts's Novels: Literature, Language and Culture''. Bern: Lang, 2011, * Susanne Gruss: ''The Pleasure of the Feminist Text: Reading Michèle Roberts and Angela Carter''. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2009, * Nick Rennison: ''Contemporary British Novelists''. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis, 2005, , p. 137–140.

References

External links

*
"Take risks"
''The Guardian'', 14 July 2007 – interview-based feature by Lucasta Miller * {{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Michele 1949 births 20th-century English women writers 20th-century English writers 21st-century English women writers Academics of Nottingham Trent University Academics of the University of East Anglia Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford Alumni of University College London British feminist writers British journalists British republicans British women academics British women short story writers English people of French descent English women novelists Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Former Roman Catholics Living people People from Bushey People from Edgware Writers from the London Borough of Barnet