Angela Carter

Angela Carter, born at the outbreak of World War II, spent much of her early childhood hiding out in northern England, part of her parents’ effort to keep her safe from Germany’s pervasive aerial bombings. Starting in adolescence, Carter rebelled against her protective, socially conservative parents, getting a job in the male-dominated field of journalism. In the midst of a troubled marriage, Carter found solace in writing fiction, completing her first six novels in seven years and winning the prestigious Somerset Maugham award. In 1969, Carter left her husband and fled to Japan, where she wrote some of her most famous work, including The Infernal Desire Machines of Dr. Hoffman (1972) and the short story collection Fireworks (1974). By the time Carter returned to London, her magical realist style had earned her a reputation as “the fairy queen” of English literature, an image bolstered by her 1979 anthology The Bloody Chamber, which retold classic fairytales through a feminist lens. After giving birth to a son in 1983, Carter continued to write and teach, becoming one of the most celebrated authors in contemporary British fiction. Tragically, Carter died of lung cancer when she was only 51 years old. Wise Children, her last novel, was published less than a year before her death.