Barbara Pym

This is the 10th post in our Author of the Week series.



Barabara Mary Crampton Pym was born in 1913 in England. She studied English at St. Hilda's College before serving in the Women's Royal Naval Service during World War II.

She published her first novel in 1950 entitled Same Tame Gazelle. She published five more books which was widely popular and highly praised for their wit and style. Surprisingly in 1963 she found herself unable to find a publisher for her books. This changed when two articles in the Times Literary Supplement named her as the most underrated author of the century.

In 1977 she resumed publishing with Quartet in Autumn.

Writing was not her sole career in fact she worked at International African Institute in London for a number of years. She never married but had a few male companions.

She died in 1980 of breast cancer.

Three previously unpublished novels and her private diaries were published after her death, making the number of her published books at 12.

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