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{{Short description|UK playwright & fiction writer}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}}
{{Infobox writer
{{Infobox writer
|name = Nell Dunn
|name = Nell Dunn
|birth_date = Nell Mary Dunn<br/>{{birth date and age|1936|6|9|df=y}}
|birth_date = Nell Mary Dunn<br/>{{birth date and age|1936|6|9|df=y}}
|birth_place = [[London]], England
|birth_place = London, England
|occupation = {{hlist|Playwright|novelist|screenwriter}}
|occupation = {{hlist|Playwright|novelist|screenwriter}}
|nationality = British
|notableworks = ''[[Up the Junction]]'' (1963)
|notableworks = ''[[Up the Junction]]'' (1963)
''[[Steaming (play)|Steaming]]'' (1981)
''[[Steaming (play)|Steaming]]'' (1981)
|parents = [[Philip Gordon Dunn, 2nd Baronet Dunn]] (father)
|spouse = [[Jeremy Sandford]] (1957–1979)
|spouse = {{marriage|[[Jeremy Sandford]]|1957|1979|end=divorce}}
|children = 3
|relatives = [[Serena Rothschild]] (sister)<br/>[[James Hamet Dunn]] (paternal grandfather)<br/>[[James St Clair-Erskine, 5th Earl of Rosslyn]] (maternal grandfather)
}}
}}
'''Nell Mary Dunn''' (born 9 June 1936) is an English playwright, screenwriter and author. She is known especially for a volume of short stories, ''[[Up the Junction]]'', and a novel, ''[[Poor Cow (novel)|Poor Cow]]''.
'''Nell Mary Dunn''' (born 9 June 1936<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Brayfield |first=Celia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aHKgDwAAQBAJ&q=nell+dunn+%22whenever+my+father+saw+my+appalling+spelling%2C+he+would+laugh.+But+it+wasn%27t+an+unkind+laugh.+In+his+laugh+there+was+the+message%2C+%27You+are+a+completely+original+person%2C+and+everything+you+do+has+your+own+mark+on+it.%27+He+wanted+us+all+to+be+unique%22&pg=PT33 |title=Rebel Writers: The Accidental Feminists: Shelagh Delaney • Edna O'Brien • Lynne Reid-Banks • Charlotte Bingham • Nell Dunn • Virginia Ironside • Margaret Forster |date=2019-07-25 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4482-1751-9 |language=en}}</ref>) is an English playwright, screenwriter and author. She is known especially for a volume of short stories, ''[[Up the Junction]]'', and a novel, ''[[Poor Cow (novel)|Poor Cow]]''.


==Early years==
==Early years==
Dunn was born in London the second daughter of [[Baronet]] [[Philip Gordon Dunn, 2nd Baronet Dunn|Sir Philip Dunn]], the son of Baronet [[James Hamet Dunn]], she is the maternal granddaughter of the [[James St Clair-Erskine, 5th Earl of Rosslyn|5th Earl of Rosslyn]], She was educated at a convent up to the age of 14. She and her older sister Serena were evacuated to America during the Second World War. Her parents divorced in 1944.<ref name=":1"/>
The daughter of Sir Philip Dunn and the maternal granddaughter of the 5th Earl of Rosslyn – the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo – Dunn was a descendant of Charles II and Nell Gwyn. She was born in [[London]] and educated at a convent, which she left at the age of 14. Nell's father didn't believe that his daughters needed any qualifications, and as a result Nell has never passed an exam in her life. She only learnt to read at nine years old and "whenever my father saw my appalling spelling, he would laugh. But it wasn't an unkind laugh. In his laugh there was the message, 'You are a completely original person, and everything you do has your own mark on it.' He wanted us all to be unique," she says.


Although she came from an upper-class background, in 1959 Dunn moved to [[Battersea]], made friends there and worked, for a time, in a sweet factory. This world inspired much of what Dunn would later write. Dunn was married to writer [[Jeremy Sandford]] from 1957 to 1979; the couple had three sons.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Ironside|first1=Virginia|title=Nell Dunn: I never used to think about death, until I was 50. I was never going to die. I was immortal. But now I think about death every day|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/nell-dunn-i-never-used-to-think-about-death-until-i-was-50-i-was-never-going-to-die-i-was-immortal-105000.html|website=The Independent|accessdate=17 April 2017}}</ref> She attended the [[Courtauld Institute of Art]].<ref>{{courtauld.ac.uk/alumni/who-we-are Selected list of alumni of The Courtauld Institute of Art]. The Courtauld Institute of Art. Accessed August 2015</ref>
Her father did not believe his daughters needed qualifications. As a result, she has never passed an exam in her life. She only learnt to read at nine years old. Dunn said, "Whenever my father saw my appalling spelling, he would laugh. But it wasn't an unkind laugh. In his laugh there was the message, 'You are a completely original person, and everything you do has your own mark on it.' He wanted us all to be unique."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-10-13 |title=Nell Dunn: I never used to think about death, until I was 50. |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/nell-dunn-i-never-used-to-think-about-death-until-i-was-50-i-was-never-going-to-die-i-was-immortal-but-now-i-think-about-death-every-day-105000.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/nell-dunn-i-never-used-to-think-about-death-until-i-was-50-i-was-never-going-to-die-i-was-immortal-but-now-i-think-about-death-every-day-105000.html |archive-date=18 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=2021-03-31 |website=The Independent|language=en}}</ref>

Despite her upper-class background, Dunn moved in 1959 to [[Battersea]], made friends there and worked for a time in a confectionery factory. This milieu inspired much of what Dunn would later write.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last1=Ironside |first1=Virginia |title=Nell Dunn: I never used to think about death, until I was 50. I was never going to die. I was immortal. But now I think about death every day |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/nell-dunn-i-never-used-to-think-about-death-until-i-was-50-i-was-never-going-to-die-i-was-immortal-105000.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/nell-dunn-i-never-used-to-think-about-death-until-i-was-50-i-was-never-going-to-die-i-was-immortal-105000.html |archive-date=18 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |website=The Independent |date=16 May 2003 |accessdate=17 April 2017}}</ref> She attended the [[Courtauld Institute of Art]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our Alumni |url=https://courtauld.ac.uk/alumni/who-we-are |access-date=2021-01-14 |website=The Courtauld Institute of Art |language=en-US}}</ref>


==Career==
==Career==
After her marriage to [[Jeremy Sandford]] in 1957, they gave up their smart [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]] home and went to live in unfashionable [[Battersea]] where they joined and observed the lower strata of society. From this experience he published the play ''[[Cathy Come Home]]'' in 1963, and she wrote ''[[Up the Junction]]''.
⚫
Dunn came to notice with the publication of ''[[Up the Junction]]'' (1963), a series of short stories set in South London, some of which had already appeared in the ''[[New Statesman]]''. The book, awarded the [[John Llewellyn Rhys Prize]], was a controversial success at the time for its vibrant, realistic and non-judgmental portrait of its working-class protagonists. It was [[Up the Junction (The Wednesday Play)|adapted for television]] by Dunn (and [[Ken Loach]]) for ''[[The Wednesday Play]]'' series, which was directed by Ken Loach, and broadcast in November 1965. A [[Up the Junction (film)|cinema film version]] was released in 1968.<!-- Dunn seems not to have been directly involved with the script, thus only passing mention needed. -->

⚫
Dunn came to notice with the publication of ''[[Up the Junction]]'' (1963), a series of short stories set in South London, some of which had already appeared in the ''[[New Statesman]]''. The book, awarded the [[John Llewellyn Rhys Prize]], was a controversial success at the time for its vibrant, realistic and non-judgemental portrait of its working-class protagonists. It was [[Up the Junction (The Wednesday Play)|adapted for television]] by Dunn, with [[Ken Loach]], for ''[[The Wednesday Play]]'' series, directed by Loach and broadcast in November 1965. A [[Up the Junction (film)|cinema film version]] was released in 1968.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062426/ IMDB. Retrieved 25 April 2020.]</ref>

⚫
''Talking to Women'' (1965) was a collection of interviews with nine friends, "from society heiresses to factory workers (Dunn herself was both)".<ref name=Webb>Kate Webb, [https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/something-to-say-for-herself/ Something to say for herself: hearing and recording female voices], ''[[Times Literary Supplement]]'', 17 July 2018.</ref> The interviewees included [[Edna O’Brien]], [[Pauline Boty]], [[Ann Quin]] and [[Paddy Kitchen]].<ref name=Webb/> Dunn's first novel, ''[[Poor Cow (novel)|Poor Cow]]'' (1967) was made into a film in the same year, starring [[Carol White]] and [[Terence Stamp]], under Loach's direction.


⚫
Her later books are ''Grandmothers'' (1991) and ''My Silver Shoes'' (1996). Dunn's first play ''[[Steaming (play)|Steaming]]'' was produced in 1981 and a television film ''Every Breath You Take'' in 1987. She also wrote ''Sisters'', a film script commissioned by the BBC.
⚫
''Talking to Women'' (1965) was a collection of interviews with nine friends, "from society heiresses to factory workers (Dunn herself was both)".<ref name=Webb>Kate Webb, [https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/something-to-say-for-herself/ Something to say for herself: hearing and recording female voices], ''[[Times Literary Supplement]]'', July 17, 2018.</ref> The interviewees included [[Edna O’Brien]], [[Pauline Boty]], [[Ann Quin]] and [[Paddy Kitchen]].<ref name=Webb/> Dunn's first novel, ''[[Poor Cow (novel)|Poor Cow]]'' (1967) was a bestseller, achieving a ''succès de scandale''. ''Poor Cow'' was made into a film starring [[Carol White]] and [[Terence Stamp]], under Loach's direction.


She won the 1982 [[Susan Smith Blackburn Prize]] for her play ''Steaming''.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1982-02-23 |title=Englishwoman Wins Blackburn Play Prize |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/23/theater/englishwoman-wins-blackburn-play-prize.html|access-date=2021-03-31 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
⚫
Her later books are ''Grandmothers'' (1991) and ''My Silver Shoes'' (1996). Dunn's play ''[[Steaming (play)|Steaming]]'' was produced in 1981 and a television film ''Every Breath You Take'', was transmitted in 1987. She has also written ''Sisters'', a film script commissioned by the BBC.


⚫
==Personal life==
She won the 1982 [[Susan Smith Blackburn Prize]].
Dunn was married to writer [[Jeremy Sandford]] from 1957<ref name=":0"/> to 1979, and they had three sons. For some time the family lived on a small [[hill farm]] called Wern Watkin, outside [[Crickhowell]] in South Wales. Their farm is mentioned in a 2000 [[biography]] by their neighbour, the young [[Carlo Gébler]], son of novelist [[Edna O'Brien]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gébler|first1=Carlo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dtPJI7Bj1YQC|title=Father and I: A Memoir|publisher=Little, Brown|year=2000|isbn=9781405529341|author-link=Carlo Gébler|access-date=31 May 2021}}</ref>


⚫
She became a patron of [[Dignity in Dying]] after her partner, Dan Oestreicher, died of [[lung cancer]].{{Citation needed|date=June 2021}}
⚫
===Personal life===
⚫
Dunn became a Patron of [[Dignity in Dying]] after her partner, Dan Oestreicher, died of lung cancer.


==Works==
==Works==
Line 38: Line 47:
*''Grandmothers'' 1991
*''Grandmothers'' 1991
*''My Silver Shoes'' 1996
*''My Silver Shoes'' 1996
*''The Muse'' 2020


===Plays===
===Plays===
Line 48: Line 58:
*''Home Death'' 2011
*''Home Death'' 2011


===Film script===
===Film scripts===
*''[[Poor Cow]]'' (co-written with [[Ken Loach]])<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062141/?ref_=nv_sr_1|title=Poor Cow (1967)|author=Lubin Odana|date=31 January 1968|work=IMDb|accessdate=8 May 2015}}</ref>
*''[[Poor Cow]]'' (co-written with [[Ken Loach]])<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062141/?ref_=nv_sr_1 |title=Poor Cow (1967) |author=Lubin Odana |date=31 January 1968 |publisher=IMDb |accessdate=8 May 2015}}</ref>
*''Every Breath You Take'' 1987
*''Every Breath You Take'' 1987
*''Sisters'', 1994
*''Sisters'', 1994
Line 55: Line 65:
==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}
⚫
* {{cite web |author=Sebastian Groes|title=Nell Dunn |url=http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1351 |publisher=The Literary Encyclopedia |date=21 October 2007 |accessdate=2009-02-03}}
* [http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsD/dunn-nell.html ''Nell Dunn'', doollee]


==External links==
==External links==
⚫
*{{Cite web |author=Sebastian Groes |title=Nell Dunn |url=http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1351 |publisher=The Literary Encyclopedia |date=21 October 2007 |accessdate=2009-02-03}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050830092743/http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsD/DunnNell.htm Nell Dunn] at Doollee.com
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050830092743/http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsD/DunnNell.htm Nell Dunn] at Doollee.com, archived in August 2005
* {{IBDB name}}
* {{IMDb name|242707}}
*{{IBDB name}}
*{{IMDb name|242707}}
* [http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~jimthing/nelldunn.htm Nell Dunn – from Chelsea to Battersea]


{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:20th-century English novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century English novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century British dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century British dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century British women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century English women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century English writers]]
[[Category:21st-century English writers]]
[[Category:21st-century British dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:21st-century English dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:21st-century British women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century English women writers]]
[[Category:British women short story writers]]
[[Category:British women short story writers]]
[[Category:English short story writers]]
[[Category:English short story writers]]
[[Category:English women novelists]]
[[Category:English women novelists]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Courtauld Institute of Art]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Courtauld Institute of Art]]
[[Category:20th-century British short story writers]]
[[Category:20th-century English short story writers]]
[[Category:21st-century British short story writers]]
[[Category:21st-century British short story writers]]
[[Category:Daughters of baronets]]

Latest revision as of 21:46, 6 June 2024

Nell Dunn
BornNell Mary Dunn
(1936-06-09) 9 June 1936 (age 88)
London, England
Occupation
  • Playwright
  • novelist
  • screenwriter
Notable worksUp the Junction (1963) Steaming (1981)
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1957; div. 1979)​
Children3
ParentsPhilip Gordon Dunn, 2nd Baronet Dunn (father)
RelativesSerena Rothschild (sister)
James Hamet Dunn (paternal grandfather)
James St Clair-Erskine, 5th Earl of Rosslyn (maternal grandfather)

Nell Mary Dunn (born 9 June 1936[1]) is an English playwright, screenwriter and author. She is known especially for a volume of short stories, Up the Junction, and a novel, Poor Cow.

Early years

[edit]

Dunn was born in London the second daughter of Baronet Sir Philip Dunn, the son of Baronet James Hamet Dunn, she is the maternal granddaughter of the 5th Earl of Rosslyn, She was educated at a convent up to the age of 14. She and her older sister Serena were evacuated to America during the Second World War. Her parents divorced in 1944.[1]

Her father did not believe his daughters needed qualifications. As a result, she has never passed an exam in her life. She only learnt to read at nine years old. Dunn said, "Whenever my father saw my appalling spelling, he would laugh. But it wasn't an unkind laugh. In his laugh there was the message, 'You are a completely original person, and everything you do has your own mark on it.' He wanted us all to be unique."[2]

Despite her upper-class background, Dunn moved in 1959 to Battersea, made friends there and worked for a time in a confectionery factory. This milieu inspired much of what Dunn would later write.[3] She attended the Courtauld Institute of Art.[4]

Career

[edit]

After her marriage to Jeremy Sandford in 1957, they gave up their smart Chelsea home and went to live in unfashionable Battersea where they joined and observed the lower strata of society. From this experience he published the play Cathy Come Home in 1963, and she wrote Up the Junction.

Dunn came to notice with the publication of Up the Junction (1963), a series of short stories set in South London, some of which had already appeared in the New Statesman. The book, awarded the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, was a controversial success at the time for its vibrant, realistic and non-judgemental portrait of its working-class protagonists. It was adapted for television by Dunn, with Ken Loach, for The Wednesday Play series, directed by Loach and broadcast in November 1965. A cinema film version was released in 1968.[5]

Talking to Women (1965) was a collection of interviews with nine friends, "from society heiresses to factory workers (Dunn herself was both)".[6] The interviewees included Edna O’Brien, Pauline Boty, Ann Quin and Paddy Kitchen.[6] Dunn's first novel, Poor Cow (1967) was made into a film in the same year, starring Carol White and Terence Stamp, under Loach's direction.

Her later books are Grandmothers (1991) and My Silver Shoes (1996). Dunn's first play Steaming was produced in 1981 and a television film Every Breath You Take in 1987. She also wrote Sisters, a film script commissioned by the BBC.

She won the 1982 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for her play Steaming.[7]

Personal life

[edit]

Dunn was married to writer Jeremy Sandford from 1957[3] to 1979, and they had three sons. For some time the family lived on a small hill farm called Wern Watkin, outside Crickhowell in South Wales. Their farm is mentioned in a 2000 biography by their neighbour, the young Carlo Gébler, son of novelist Edna O'Brien.[8]

She became a patron of Dignity in Dying after her partner, Dan Oestreicher, died of lung cancer.[citation needed]

Works

[edit]
  • Up the Junction 1963
  • Poor Cow 1967
  • I Want (with Adrian Henri) 1972
  • Tear His Head Off His Shoulders 1974
  • The Only Child 1978
  • Grandmothers 1991
  • My Silver Shoes 1996
  • The Muse 2020

Plays

[edit]
  • Steaming, 1981
  • Variety Night, 1982
  • The Little Heroine, 1988
  • Consequences, 1988
  • Babe XXX, 1998
  • Cancer Tales, 2003
  • Home Death 2011

Film scripts

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Brayfield, Celia (25 July 2019). Rebel Writers: The Accidental Feminists: Shelagh Delaney • Edna O'Brien • Lynne Reid-Banks • Charlotte Bingham • Nell Dunn • Virginia Ironside • Margaret Forster. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4482-1751-9.
  2. ^ "Nell Dunn: I never used to think about death, until I was 50". The Independent. 13 October 2013. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  3. ^ a b Ironside, Virginia (16 May 2003). "Nell Dunn: I never used to think about death, until I was 50. I was never going to die. I was immortal. But now I think about death every day". The Independent. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  4. ^ "Our Alumni". The Courtauld Institute of Art. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  5. ^ IMDB. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
  6. ^ a b Kate Webb, Something to say for herself: hearing and recording female voices, Times Literary Supplement, 17 July 2018.
  7. ^ "Englishwoman Wins Blackburn Play Prize". The New York Times. 23 February 1982. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  8. ^ Gébler, Carlo (2000). Father and I: A Memoir. Little, Brown. ISBN 9781405529341. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  9. ^ Lubin Odana (31 January 1968). "Poor Cow (1967)". IMDb. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
[edit]
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