Fay Weldon CBE FRSL (born 22 September 1931) is an English author, essayist and playwright, whose work has been associated with feminism. In her fiction, Weldon typically portrays contemporary women who find themselves trapped in oppressive situations caused by the patriarchal structure of British society.
When I took to writing plays in the '70s. it was understood that if two mature women were talking onstage, audience members would cough and shift in their seats, but if two men of any age were talking, the audience would pay some attention. And if any man of any age and a young woman were alone onstage, you could hear a pin drop. Not much has changed since then. Young, nubile women attract attention, aging women do not - on the screen, on the stage, and I fear for the novelist, on the page.
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I was young when my first book was published and had quick success. I roared around the world on the Concorde, from one international convention to the next. I like to think it was because I wrote good novels, not because I fluttered my eyelashes, but really, who can say? With age things calm down. Publicity photos give up trying to make you look sexy and try to make you look intelligent. Fortunately, if you just hang in there long enough and hit 80, you will emerge on the other side of the postmenopausal years into bright clear waters - so old as to seem ageless, sexless as a sage, remarkable if not for youth, why, then, for extreme age, and again a salable proposition for publishers.
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The female writer still going through the doldrums of middle age should look at the advent of the e-book as a blessing. It is such an anonymous medium. The writer can be from anywhere and as old or young as she likes. The quality of the text emerges without frills, without the photo on the back of the book. And should you e-publish it yourself, with any luck a 'proper' publisher, impressed by your skill and panache, will turn it into book as we once knew it, indifferent to your age.
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There has to be a halt in the gender war and feminism must extend its remit to include the rights of men.
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Fact
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She was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2001 Queen's New Years Honours List for her services to Literature.
$12 Million
