Australian-British author (born 1958)
Kathy Lette
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Born
| (
1958-11-11
)
11 November 1958
(age 65)
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Nationality
| Australian
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Citizenship
| |
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Occupation
| Author
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Years active
| 1979?present
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Spouses
|
(
m.
1983;
div.
1989)
(
m.
1990;
sep.
2017)
[2]
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Children
| 2 (including
Jules Robertson
)
|
---|
Website
| www
.kathylette
.com
|
---|
Kathryn Marie Lette
(born 11 November 1958) is an Australian and British author.
Early life
[
edit
]
Lette was born on 11 November 1958 in Sydney's
southern suburbs
.
She appeared in
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".
[3]
They were standing up for
buskers
' rights not to be
moved on
as
Sydney City Council
enforced a 1919 Act of Parliament in New South Wales.
Career
[
edit
]
Lette first attracted attention in 1979 as the co-author (with Gabrielle Carey) of
Puberty Blues
, a strongly autobiographical, teen novel about two 13-year-old southern suburbs girls attempting to improve their social status by ingratiating themselves with the "Greenhills gang" of surfers. The book was made into
a film
in 1981 and
a TV series
in 2012.
She subsequently 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
in 1993,
Mad Cows
in 1996 (which was made into a film starring
Joanna Lumley
and
Anna Friel
) and
Dead Sexy
.
[4]
She left Australia for the United Kingdom in 1988 and took British citizenship in 2011.
[5]
[1]
In 2007, she published the book
How to Kill your Husband (and other handy household hints)
[6]
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
.
[7]
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 and 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, she 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
.
[8]
[9]
She 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.
Recognition
[
edit
]
In recognition of her many novels and advocacy of equality, human rights, and physical and mental health both nationally and internationally, Lette was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters (
Honoris Causa
) from the
University of Wollongong
on 20 April 2017.
[10]
Personal life
[
edit
]
Lette lives in
South Hampstead
in the
London Borough of Camden
.
[11]
She has two children (
Julius
and Georgina) with fellow Australian
expatriate
Geoffrey Robertson
,
[2]
whom she met while still married to
Kim Williams
, when appearing on Robertson's TV panel debate show
Hypotheticals
. Julius (known as Jules) has
Asperger syndrome
: he has embarked on a career as an actor, and plays the character of
Jason Haynes
in
Holby City
.
[12]
[13]
Lette and Robertson separated in 2017.
She supports the
UK Labour Party
.
[14]
In August 2014, she was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to
The Guardian
expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's
referendum on that issue
.
[15]
Books
[
edit
]
Novels
[
edit
]
- 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
(2003)
- 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)
- Best Laid Plans
(2017)
- HRT: Husband Replacement Therapy
(2020)
- Till Death, or a Little Light Maiming, Do Us Part
(2022)
- The Revenge Club
(2024)
Other
[
edit
]
- In Bed with...
(2009, anthology, editor))
- Men: a User's Guide
(2010, humour)
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
John Gulliver (3 February 2011).
"Author Kathy Lette on her way to becoming a full British citizen"
.
Camden New Journal
. Archived from
the original
on 23 September 2015
. Retrieved
24 November
2014
.
- ^
a
b
"Kathy Lette confirms split from husband Geoffrey Robertson"
.
news.com.au
. 24 July 2017
. Retrieved
17 June
2018
.
- ^
"Buskers Lose Freak Tag"
by Nancy Berryman,
The Sydney Morning Herald
, 20 August 1978.
- ^
"Kathy Lette (short biography)"
.
wallmedia.com.au
. Retrieved
20 February
2024
.
- ^
Ryan, Rosanna (10 July 2015).
"The year that made me: Kathy Lette on moving to England"
.
ABC
Radio National
. Retrieved
3 August
2017
.
- ^
How to Kill your Husband (and other handy household hints)
by Kathy Lette, Simon & Schuster 2007,
ISBN
978-0-7434-6876-3
- ^
"Victorian Opera ?
How to Kill your Husband
"
. Archived from
the original
on 23 June 2011
. Retrieved
6 June
2011
.
- ^
"Honorary degree for Kathy Lette"
,
The Sydney Morning Herald
(7 November 2009)
- ^
"Creme de la crim"
by Kathy Lette,
The Australian
, 10 March 2010.
- ^
"Honorary Doctor of Letters citation"
by
Paul Wellings
,
University of Wollongong
, 20 April 2017
- ^
"#MakeYourMark: Our campaign to register 17,000 missing voters in Hampstead and Kilburn"
, by Tim Lamden,
Ham & High
, 2 April 2015
- ^
Kathy Lette: My autistic son beat the school bullies and now he's on Holby City
,
Daily Mirror
, 31 March 2016
- ^
Braithwaite, Alyssa (27 June 2016).
"Kathy Lette desperately wants you to know her autistic son"
.
sbs.com.au
. Retrieved
30 March
2018
.
[
dead link
]
Also partly
at Disability Employment Australia
- ^
"Parties in pre-election battle to sign up stars"
by Vanessa Thorpe,
The Observer
(14 February 2010)
- ^
"Celebrities' open letter to Scotland ? full text and list of signatories"
.
The Guardian
. London. 7 August 2014
. Retrieved
26 August
2014
.
External links
[
edit
]
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