Anna Kavan (born Helen Emily Woods; 10 April 1901 – 5 December 1968) was a British novelist, short story writer and painter. Originally publishing under her first married name, Helen Ferguson, she adopted the name Anna Kavan in 1939, not only as a nom de plume but as her legal identity.
In the late 1920s she became a heroin addict, which plagued her throughout her life. She also suffered from severe depression and attempted suicide many times.
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Had one child, a son, from her first marriage in 1920 (he was killed near the end of World War II). Another child, a daughter, was born early in her second marriage but died shortly after birth. She and her husband--who eventually divorced--adopted a child not long after the baby's death.
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She was born Helen Emily Woods, but after her first marriage, to Donald Ferguson, ended she still used his last name. In 1940 she began writing under the name Anna Kavan, which was the name of one of her fictional characters.
$500,000