Sylvia Townsend Warner - Claire Harman

Winner Of The John Llewellyn Rhys Prize 'one Of The Most Shamefully Under-read Great British Authors Of The Past 100 Years' Sarah Watersthe Poet Sylvia Townsend Warner Rose To Sudden Fame With The Publication Of Her Classic Feminist Novel Lolly Willowes In 1926 But Never Became A Conventional Member Of London Literary Life Pursuing Instead A Long Writing Career In Her Own Individualistic Manner. Cheerfully Defying Social Norms Of The Day Warner Lived In An Openly Homosexual Relationship With The Poet Valentine Ackland For Almost Forty Years. Together They Were Committed Members Of The Communist Party And Travelled Twice To Spain During The Civil War But Warner Paid For Her Outspokenness With Years Of Neglect And Channelled Much Of Her Emotional And Intellectual Energy Into Letters Poems And Heart-breaking Diaries That Remained Unpublished During Her Lifetime.