Kathy Lette
| Kathy Lette | |
|---|---|
| File:Kathy lette wallmedia.jpg | |
| Born | 11 November 1958 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Residence | London Borough of Camden, London, United Kingdom |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Citizenship |
|
| Occupation | Author |
| Years active | 1979-present |
| Spouse(s) | Kim Williams Geoffrey Robertson |
| Children | Julius Robertson Georgina Robertson |
| Website | kathylette.com Management |
Katherine Marie Lette (born 11 November 1958) better known as Kathy Lette is an Australian-British author who has written a number of bestselling books. She resides in the London Borough of Camden.[2][3]
Life and career
Born in Sydney's southern suburbs, she first attracted attention in 1979 as the co-author (with friend Gabrielle Carey) of Puberty Blues, a strongly autobiographical, proto-feminist teen novel about two 13-year-old southern suburbs girls attempting to improve their social status by ingratiating themselves with the "Greenhill gang" of surfers. The book was made into a film in 1981 and a TV series in 2012.
Lette appeared in the The Sydney Morning Herald of 20 August 1978 pictured in Martin Place with her friend Gabrielle Carey in an article titled "Buskers Lose Freak Tag".[4] A young Lette stood up for buskers' rights not to be moved on as Sydney City Council enforced a 1919 Act of Parliament in New South Wales.
As an adult, Lette became a newspaper columnist and sitcom writer, but returned to the novel form with Girls' Night Out in 1988 and has since written several more novels and plays, including Foetal Attraction, Mad Cows in 1996 (which was made into a film starring Joanna Lumley and Anna Friel) and Dead Sexy.[5]
Despite her comments about English people being condescending and unfriendly,[6] Lette lives in London and is married to a fellow Australian expatriate, Geoffrey Robertson, whom she first met while still married to Kim Williams, when appearing on Robertson's TV panel debate show Hypotheticals. They have two children, Julius and Georgina. Julius has Asperger syndrome.[7]
In 2007, Lette published the book How to Kill your Husband (and Other Handy Household Hints)[8] which was turned into an opera in 2011 by composer Alan John and playwright Timothy Daly; it was premiered at the Victorian Opera, conducted by Richard Gill.[9] The same year, she briefly appeared on Sunrise as a London correspondent, a part of the Global Notebook.
In 2008, Lette published To Love, Honour & Betray (Till Divorce Us Do Part), a romantic novel with hints of comedy.
With Jessica Adams, Maggie Alderson and Imogen Edwards-Jones, Lette edited an anthology by prominent women writers of erotic short-stories, In Bed with... (2009), including contributions from Louise Doughty, Esther Freud, Ali Smith, Joan Smith, Rachel Johnson and Fay Weldon, each publishing under a pseudonym.
In April 2009, Lette contributed to the fourth issue of the literary magazine Notes from the Underground with a piece honouring her close friend John Mortimer. In November 2009, she received an honorary doctorate from Southampton Solent University.[10][11]
Lette teamed with Radox to write a water-resistant book, which was released free online in September 2009, with an aim to encourage women to be selfish with their time.
Lette is a supporter of the UK Labour Party.[12] In August 2014, she was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.[13]
In Australia Kathy is represented by Wall Media management.[14]
Lette took full British citizenship in 2011.[15]
Books
Novels
- Puberty Blues (1979) (with Gabrielle Carey)
- Girls' Night Out (1988)
- The Llama Parlour (1992)
- Foetal Attraction (1993)
- Mad Cows (1996)
- Altar Ego (1998)
- Nip 'n' Tuck (2001)
- Dead Sexy (2005)
- How to Kill Your Husband (and Other Handy Household Hints) (2006)
- To Love Honour and Betray (Till Divorce Us Do Part) (2008)
- The Boy Who Fell to Earth (2012)
- Love is Blind (2013)
- Courting Trouble (2014)
Other
- Men: a User's Guide (2010) (Humour)
References
- ↑ http://www.camdennewjournal.com/author-kathy-lette-her-way-becoming-full-british-citizen
- ↑ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0504776/bio
- ↑ http://www.filmweb.pl/person/Kathy+Lette-459804
- ↑ "Buskers Lose Freak Tag" by Nancy Berryman, The Sydney Morning Herald (20 August 1978)
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ "Poms: don't you just hate them?" The Independent (30 January 2001)
- ↑ Horizon, 1 April 2014
- ↑ How to Kill your Husband (and other handy household hints) by Kathy Lette, Simon & Schuster 2007, ISBN 978-0-7434-6876-3
- ↑ How to Kill your Husband (and other handy household hints) at the Victorian Opera
- ↑ "Honorary degree for Kathy Lette", The Sydney Morning Herald (7 November 2009)
- ↑ "Crème de la crim" by Kathy Lette, The Australian (10 March 2010)
- ↑ "Parties in pre-election battle to sign up stars" by Vanessa Thorpe, The Observer (14 February 2010)
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://wallmedia.com.au/kathy-lette/
- ↑ Author Kathy Lette on her way to becoming a full British citizen, Camden New Journal, 3 February 2011
External links
- Pages with broken file links
- Articles with hCards
- 1958 births
- Living people
- 20th-century Australian novelists
- 21st-century Australian novelists
- Australian expatriates in the United Kingdom
- Australian women novelists
- Writers from Sydney
- People from the Sutherland Shire
- Labour Party (UK) people
- 20th-century British novelists
- British socialists
- British republicans
- British women novelists
- People from Camden (London borough)
- British feminists
- Socialist feminists
- 20th-century women writers
- 21st-century British novelists
- 21st-century women writers
