# Alison Fell > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Alison_Fell > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Alison_Fell.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alison_Fell > Source revision: 1339986853 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Scottish writer, born 1944}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}} {{Use British English|date=January 2017}} {{Infobox person/Wikidata | fetchwikidata=ALL | onlysourced=yes | dateformat = dmy|list=hlist}} '''Alison Fell''' (born 1944 in [Dumfries](/source/Dumfries), [Scotland](/source/Scotland)) is a Scottish [poet](/source/poet) and novelist with a particular interest in women's roles and political victims. Her poems have appeared in many anthologies. Her children's books also pass on social messages. ==Life and work== Alison Fell was educated at [Dumfries Academy](/source/Dumfries_Academy) and [Edinburgh Art College](/source/Edinburgh_Art_College), from which she graduated as a sculptor. She began writing for ''Scotland Magazine'' in 1962. In 1967 she married a [Leeds University](/source/Leeds_University) academic and bore a son. By 1970 she had separated and she moved to [London](/source/London), where she co-founded the Woman's Street Theatre Group (later the Monstrous Regiment). An account of the company and Fell's life at this period appears in [Michèle Roberts](/source/Mich%C3%A8le_Roberts)'s memoir ''Paper Houses''.Michèle Roberts, ''Paper Houses: A Memoir of the 70s and Beyond'', 2007, Virago, {{ISBN|978-1844084074}}; paperback 2008, {{ISBN|978-1844084081}}.Virginia Blain, Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy: ''The Feminist Companion to Literature in English'' (London: Batsford, 1990), p. 361. She worked at the underground newspaper ''[Ink](/source/Ink_(underground_paper))'',{{Cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jiMOAAAAQAAJ&dq=Alison+Fell&pg=PA153 |title=Underground: the London alternative press, 1966–74 |author=[Nigel Fountain](/source/Nigel_Fountain) |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-415-00728-3}} and contributed to ''[Spare Rib](/source/Spare_Rib)''.{{Cite journal |author=Alison Fell |author-link=Alison Fell |date=March 1976 |title=Nights |journal=[Spare Rib](/source/Spare_Rib) |issue=44 |pages=9–11 |publisher=Spare Ribs Ltd}} Fell's poems "speak for women, activists and political victims" and have been much anthologized. Her children's books ''Grey Dancer'' (1981) and ''The Bad Box'' (1987) "deal with growing up in left-wing working-class families." ''Kisses for Mayakovsky'' (1984) is a volume of them, and ''Every Move You Make'', published in the same year, is an autobiographical novel. She also contributed about herself in ''Truth, Dare or Promise: Girls Growing up in the Fifties'' (1985, edited by Liz Heron). In addition to her output of poetry and fiction, she held the School of English and American Studies Writing Fellowship at the [University of East Anglia](/source/University_of_East_Anglia) in 1998.[http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth158 Alison Fell page] at [British Council](/source/British_Council) Literature. ==Awards== *1984: [Alice Hunt Bartlett Prize](/source/Alice_Hunt_Bartlett_Prize) for ''Kisses for Mayakovsky'' *1991: [Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature](/source/Boardman_Tasker_Prize_for_Mountain_Literature) for ''Mer de Glace'' *2002–2003: [Royal Literary Fund](/source/Royal_Literary_Fund) Fellowship ==Works== ===Poetry=== *{{Cite book |title=Smile, Smile, Smile, Smile |publisher=Sheba |year=1980 |isbn=978-0-907179-03-0}} *{{Cite book |title=Kisses for Mayakovsky| publisher=Virago| year=1984| isbn=978-0-86068-593-7}} *{{Cite book |title=The Crystal Owl| publisher=Methuen Paperback |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-413-18810-6}} *{{Cite book |title=Dreams, Like Heretics: New and Selected Poems |publisher=Serpent's Tail |year=1997 |isbn=978-1-85242-561-6}} *{{Cite book |title=August 6, 1945}} ===Novels=== *{{Cite book |title=The Grey Dancer |publisher=Collins |year=1981 |isbn=978-0-00184-267-0}} *{{Cite book |title=Every Move You Make |publisher=Virago |year=1984 |isbn=978-0-86068-585-2}} *{{Cite book |title=The Bad Box |publisher=Virago |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-86068-497-8}} *{{Cite book |title=Mer de Glace |publisher=Serpent's Tail |year=1992 |isbn=978-1-85242-267-7}} *{{Cite book |title=The Pillow Boy of the Lady Onogoro |publisher=Harcourt Brace |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-15-100186-6| url=https://archive.org/details/pillowboyofladyo00fell}} *{{Cite book |title=The Mistress of Lilliput |year=1999 |isbn=978-1-86230-048-4|last1=Fell |first1=Alison }} *{{Cite book |title=Tricks of the light |publisher=Doubleday |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-385-60508-3}} *{{Cite book |title=The Element -Inth in Greek|publisher=Sandstone Press Ltd |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-90-873702-1}} ===Anthology=== *{{Cite book| title=Licking the Bed Clean: Five Feminist Poets| publisher=Teeth imprints| year=1978| isbn=978-0-9506390-0-0| url=https://archive.org/details/lickingbedcleanf00fell}} ===Editor=== *{{Cite book |title=The Seven Deadly Sins |others=Illustrator Amanda Faulkner| publisher=Serpent's Tail|year=1989 |isbn=978-1-85242-140-3}} *{{Cite book |title=The Seven Cardinal Virtues |others=Illustrator Grizelda Holderness |publisher=Serpent's Tail |year=1990 |isbn=978-1-85242-169-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/sevencardinalvir00alis}} *{{Cite book |title=Serious Hysterics |publisher=Serpent's Tail |year=1992 |isbn=978-1-85242-222-6| url=https://archive.org/details/serioushysterics00fell}} ==References== {{reflist|30em}} ==External links== *{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4_4RA3Ngk0kC&dq=Alison+Fell&pg=PA106 |title=Kicking Daffodils: Twentieth-Century Women Poets |editor=Vicki Bertram |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-7486-0782-2}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Fell, Alison}} Category:1944 births Category:Academics of the University of East Anglia Category:Boardman Tasker Prize winners Category:Living people Category:Scottish women novelists Category:Scottish women poets Category:Women anthologists --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Alison Fell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alison_Fell) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alison_Fell?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.