Sarah Antoinette LeFanu (born 6 August 1953) is a Scottish author and academic.

Biography

Sarah Antoinette LeFanu was born in

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

, Scotland. She worked as an editor for the Women's Press, and taught classes on

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

and science fiction at the City Lit Centre in London. LeFanu edited the 1985 volume ''Despatches from the Frontiers of the Female Mind'', and in 1988 she published ''In the Chinks of the World Machine: Feminism and Science Fiction'', an analysis of contemporary science-fiction writers, particularly women. Prominent among these were Suzy McKee Charnas,

Ursula K. Le Guin Ursula Kroeber Le Guin ( ; Kroeber; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author. She is best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the ''Earthsea'' fantas ...

Joanna Russ Joanna Russ (February 22, 1937 – April 29, 2011) was an American writer, academic and feminist. She is the author of a number of works of science fiction, fantasy and feminist literary criticism such as '' How to Suppress Women's Writing'', as ...

, and James Tiptree Jr. Reviewing the volume for ''

Science Fiction Studies ''Science Fiction Studies'' (''SFS'') is an academic journal founded in 1973 by R. D. Mullen. The journal is published three times per year at DePauw University. As Science fiction studies, the name implies, the journal publishes articles and ...

'', Veronica Hollinger wrote that it was "detailed and wide-ranging, frequently incisive, and always entertaining". In her writing, LeFanu argued that science fiction had provided a means for women writers to overcome the patriarchal conventions of conventional fiction, and thereby to speak in their own voices. LeFanu also wrote a biography of

Rose Macaulay Dame Emilie Rose Macaulay, (1 August 1881 – 30 October 1958) was an English writer, most noted for her award-winning novel ''The Towers of Trebizond'', about a small Anglo-Catholic group crossing Turkey by camel. The story is seen as a spiri ...

, published in 2003. In 2020, she published ''Something of Themselves'', a biographical volume about

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Hol ...

Mary Kingsley ''For the English novelist, see Mary St Leger Kingsley.'' Mary Henrietta Kingsley (13 October 1862 – 3 June 1900) was an English ethnographer, writer and explorer who made numerous travels through West Africa and wrote several books on ...

, and

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...

in South Africa in 1900 during the

Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic an ...

. The book was described as a "splendidly well-written page-turner" by ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:LeFanu, Sarah 1953 births Living people Science fiction academics Scottish biographers Scottish women academics Scottish women writers British women anthologists