Doris Lessing

Doris Lessing CH OMG
Lessing in 2006
Born	Doris May Tayler (1919-10-22)22 October 1919 Kermanshah, Iran
Died	17 November 2013(2013-11-17) (aged 94) London, England
Pen name	Jane Somers
Occupation	Writer
Nationality	British
Period	1950–2013
Genre	Novel short story biography drama libretto poetry
Literary movement	Modernism postmodernism Sufism socialism feminism scepticism science fiction
Notable works	The Grass Is Singing Children of Violence series The Golden Notebook Briefing for a Descent into Hell The Good Terrorist
Notable awards	Somerset Maugham Award 1954 Austrian State Prize for European Literature 1981 WH Smith Literary Award 1986 Grinzane Cavour Prize 1989 James Tait Black Memorial Prize 1995 David Cohen Prize 2001 Premio Príncipe de Asturias 2001 Nobel Prize in Literature 2007
Spouse	Frank Charles Wisdom ​ ​ (m. 1939; div. 1943)​ Gottfried Anton Nicolai Lessing ​ ​ (m. 1943; div. 1949)​
Children	John (1940–1992) Jean (b. 1941) Peter (1946–2013)[1]
Website
dorislessing.org

Doris May Lessing CH OMG (née Tayler; 22 October 1919 – 17 November 2013) was a British novelist. She was born to British parents in Iran, where she lived until 1925. Her family then moved to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where she remained until moving in 1949 to London, England. Her novels include The Grass Is Singing (1950), the sequence of five novels collectively called Children of Violence (1952–1969), The Golden Notebook (1962), The Good Terrorist (1985), and five novels collectively known as Canopus in Argos: Archives (1979–1983).

Lessing was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature. In awarding the prize, the Swedish Academy described her as "that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny".^[2] Lessing was the oldest person ever to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, at age 87.^[3][4][5]

In 2001 Lessing was awarded the David Cohen Prize for a lifetime's achievement in British literature. In 2008 The Times ranked her fifth on a list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".^[6]