# Doris Lessing

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British novelist (1919–2013)

Doris Lessing CH OMG Lessing in 2006 Born Doris May Tayler (1919-10-22)22 October 1919 Kermanshah, Kurdistan Died 17 November 2013(2013-11-17) (aged 94) London, England Pen name Jane Somers Occupation Writer Nationality British Period 1950–2013 Genre Novel short story biography drama libretto poetry Literary movement Modernism postmodernism Sufism socialism feminism scepticism science fiction Notable works The Grass Is Singing Children of Violence series The Golden Notebook Briefing for a Descent into Hell The Good Terrorist Notable awards Somerset Maugham Award 1954 Austrian State Prize for European Literature 1981 WH Smith Literary Award 1986 Grinzane Cavour Prize 1989 James Tait Black Memorial Prize 1995 David Cohen Prize 2001 Premio Príncipe de Asturias 2001 Nobel Prize in Literature 2007 Spouse Frank Charles Wisdom ​ ​ (m. 1939; div. 1943)​ Gottfried Anton Nicolai Lessing ​ ​ (m. 1943; div. 1949)​ Children John (1940–1992) Jean (b. 1941) Peter (1946–2013)[1] Website dorislessing.org

**Doris May Lessing** ([née](/source/Birth_name#Maiden_and_married_names) **Tayler**; 22 October 1919 – 17 November 2013) was a British novelist – sometimes identified as Rhodesian early in her career – and winner of the [Nobel Prize in Literature](/source/Nobel_Prize_in_Literature) in 2007. Lessing was born to British parents in [Qajar Iran](/source/Qajar_Iran), where she lived until she was 6 in 1925. Her family then moved to [Southern Rhodesia](/source/Southern_Rhodesia) (now [Zimbabwe](/source/Zimbabwe)), where she remained until moving to London, England, in 1949. Her novels include *[The Grass Is Singing](/source/The_Grass_Is_Singing)* (1950), the sequence of five novels collectively called *[Children of Violence](/source/Children_of_Violence)* (1952–1969), *[The Golden Notebook](/source/The_Golden_Notebook)* (1962), *[The Good Terrorist](/source/The_Good_Terrorist)* (1985), and five novels collectively known as *[Canopus in Argos: Archives](/source/Canopus_in_Argos)* (1979–1983).

Lessing was awarded the [2007 Nobel Prize in Literature](/source/2007_Nobel_Prize_in_Literature). In awarding the prize, the [Swedish Academy](/source/Swedish_Academy) described her as "that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny".[2] Lessing was the oldest person ever to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, at age 87.[3][4][5]

In 2001, Lessing was awarded the [David Cohen Prize](/source/David_Cohen_Prize) for a lifetime's achievement in [British literature](/source/British_literature). In 2008, *[The Times](/source/The_Times)* ranked her fifth on a list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".[6]

## Life

### Early life

Lessing was born Doris May Tayler in [Kermanshah](/source/Kermanshah), [Iran](/source/Iran), on 22 October 1919, to Captain Alfred Tayler and Emily Maude Tayler (née McVeagh), both British subjects.[7] Her father, who had lost a leg during his service in [World War I](/source/World_War_I), met his future wife, a nurse, at the [Royal Free Hospital](/source/Royal_Free_Hospital) in London where he was recovering from his [amputation](/source/Amputation).[8][9] The couple moved to Iran, for Alfred to take a job as a clerk for the [Imperial Bank of Persia](/source/Imperial_Bank_of_Persia).[10][11]

In 1925, the family moved to the British colony of [Southern Rhodesia](/source/Southern_Rhodesia) (now Zimbabwe) to farm maize and other crops on about 1,000 acres (400 ha) of bush that Alfred bought. In the rough environment, his wife Emily aspired to lead an [Edwardian](/source/Edwardian) lifestyle. It might have been possible had the family been wealthy; in reality, they were short of money and the farm delivered very little income.[12]

As a girl, Lessing was educated first at the [Dominican Convent High School](/source/Dominican_Convent_High_School%2C_Harare), a Roman Catholic [convent](/source/Convent) [all-girls school](/source/Single-sex_school) in the Southern Rhodesian capital of Salisbury (now [Harare](/source/Harare)).[13] Then followed a year at [Girls High School](/source/Girls_High_School%2C_Harare) in Salisbury.[13] She left school at age 13 and was self-educated from then on. She left home at 15 and worked as a [nursemaid](/source/Nursemaid). She started reading material that her employer gave her on politics and sociology[9] and began writing around this time.

In 1937, Lessing moved to [Salisbury](/source/Harare) to work as a [telephone operator](/source/Switchboard_operator), and she soon married her first husband, civil servant Frank Wisdom, with whom she had two children (John, 1940–1992, and Jean, born in 1941), before the marriage ended in 1943.[9] Lessing left the family home in 1943, leaving the two children with their father.[1]

### Move to London; political views

After the divorce, Lessing's interest was drawn to the community around the [Left Book Club](/source/Left_Book_Club), an organisation she had joined the year before.[12][14] It was here that she met her future second husband, [Gottfried Lessing](/source/Gottfried_Lessing). They married shortly after she joined the group, and had a child together (Peter, 1946–2013), before they divorced in 1949. She did not marry again.[9] Lessing also had a love affair with RAF serviceman John Whitehorn (brother of journalist [Katharine Whitehorn](/source/Katharine_Whitehorn)), who was stationed in Southern Rhodesia, and wrote him ninety letters between 1943 and 1949.[15]

Lessing moved to London in 1949 with her younger son, Peter, to pursue her writing career and socialist beliefs, but left the two older children with their father, Frank Wisdom. She later said that at the time she saw no choice: "For a long time I felt I had done a very brave thing. There is nothing more boring for an intelligent woman than to spend endless amounts of time with small children. I felt I wasn't the best person to bring them up. I would have ended up an alcoholic or a frustrated intellectual like my mother."[16]

As well as [campaigning against nuclear arms](/source/Nuclear_disarmament), she was an active opponent of [apartheid](/source/Apartheid), which led her to being banned from South Africa and Rhodesia in 1956 for many years.[17] In the same year, following the [Soviet invasion of Hungary](/source/Hungarian_Revolution_of_1956), she left the [Communist Party of Great Britain](/source/Communist_Party_of_Great_Britain).[18] In the 1980s, when Lessing was vocal in her opposition to Soviet actions in Afghanistan,[19] she gave her views on feminism, communism and science fiction in an interview with *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*.[10]

On 21 August 2015, a five-volume secret file on Lessing, built up by both [MI5](/source/MI5) and [MI6](/source/MI6), was made public and placed in [The National Archives](/source/The_National_Archives_(United_Kingdom)).[20] The file, which contains documents that are redacted in parts, shows Lessing was under surveillance by MI5 and MI6 for around twenty years, from the early 1940s onwards. Her associations with communist organisations and political activism were reported to be the reasons for the surveillance of Lessing.[21]

Disaffected, and turning away from Marxist political philosophy, Lessing became increasingly absorbed with mystical and spiritual matters, devoting herself especially to the [Sufi](/source/Sufism) tradition.[22]

### Literary career

At the age of fifteen, Lessing began to sell her stories to magazines.[23] Her first novel, *[The Grass Is Singing](/source/The_Grass_Is_Singing)*, was published in 1950.[12] The work that gained her international attention, *[The Golden Notebook](/source/The_Golden_Notebook)*, was published in 1962.[11] By the time of her death, she had published more than 50 novels, some under a pseudonym.[24]

Lessing in 1984

In 1982, Lessing wrote two novels under the literary pseudonym Jane Somers to show the difficulty new authors face in trying to get their work printed. The novels were rejected by Lessing's UK publisher but later accepted by another English publisher, [Michael Joseph](/source/Michael_Joseph_(publisher)), and in the US by [Alfred A. Knopf](/source/Alfred_A._Knopf). *The Diary of a Good Neighbour*[25] was published in Britain and the US in 1983 and *If the Old Could* in both countries in 1984,[26] both as written by Jane Somers. In 1984 both novels were republished in both countries ([Viking Books](/source/Viking_Books) publishing in the US), this time under one cover, with the title *The Diaries of Jane Somers: The Diary of a Good Neighbour and If the Old Could*, listing Doris Lessing as author.[27]

Lessing declined a [damehood](/source/Dame_(title)) (DBE) in 1992 as an honour linked to a non-existent Empire; she had previously declined appointment as an OBE in 1977.[28] Later she accepted appointment as a [Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour](/source/Member_of_the_Order_of_the_Companions_of_Honour) at the end of 1999 for "conspicuous national service".[29] She was also made a Companion of Literature by the [Royal Society of Literature](/source/Royal_Society_of_Literature).[30]

In 2007, Lessing was awarded the [Nobel Prize in Literature](/source/Nobel_Prize_in_Literature).[31] She received the prize at the age of 88 years 52 days, making her the oldest winner of the literature prize at the time of the award and the third-oldest Nobel laureate in any category (after [Leonid Hurwicz](/source/Leonid_Hurwicz) and [Raymond Davis Jr.](/source/Raymond_Davis_Jr.)).[32][33] Returning from the grocery store, Lessing was informed by a journalist of her win; she replied "Oh Christ" and continued to bring in her groceries, saying "One can't get more excited than one gets, you know?". While dismissing gathered reporters, she asked what they wanted to hear, saying "I'm sure you'd like some uplifting remarks of some kind."[34][35] She was the eleventh woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature by the [Swedish Academy](/source/Swedish_Academy) in its 106-year history.[36] In 2017, her Nobel medal was put up for auction.[37][38] Previously, only one Nobel medal for literature had been sold at auction, for [André Gide](/source/Andr%C3%A9_Gide) in 2016.[38]

### Illness and death

During the late 1990s, Lessing had a stroke,[39] which stopped her from travelling during her later years.[40] She was still able to attend the theatre and opera.[39] She began to focus her mind on death, for example asking herself if she would have time to finish a new book.[17][39] She died on 17 November 2013, aged 94, at her home in [West Hampstead](/source/West_Hampstead), London, of kidney failure, [sepsis](/source/Sepsis) and a chest infection,[41] predeceased by her two sons, but was survived by her daughter, Jean, who lives in South Africa.[42]

She was remembered with a [humanist funeral service](/source/Humanist_celebrant).[43]

## Fiction

[Idries Shah](/source/Idries_Shah), who introduced Lessing to [Sufism](/source/Sufism)[44]

Lessing's fiction is commonly divided into three distinct phases.

During her Communist phase (1944–1956), she wrote radically about social issues, a theme to which she returned in *[The Good Terrorist](/source/The_Good_Terrorist)* (1985). Doris Lessing's first novel, *[The Grass Is Singing](/source/The_Grass_Is_Singing)*, as well as the short stories later collected in *African Stories*, are set in [Southern Rhodesia](/source/Southern_Rhodesia) (today [Zimbabwe](/source/Zimbabwe)) where she was then living.[45]

This was followed by a [psychological](/source/Psychology) phase from 1956 to 1969, including the *Golden Notebook* and the "Children of Violence" quintet.[46]

Third came the [Sufi](/source/Sufism) phase, explored in her 70s work, and in the *[Canopus in Argos](/source/Canopus_in_Argos)* sequence of science fiction novels and novellas (or as she preferred to call it "space fiction", a description also preferred by [C.S. Lewis](/source/C.S._Lewis) for [his works of science fiction](/source/The_Space_Trilogy)) .[47]

Lessing's *Canopus* sequence received a mixed reception from mainstream [literary critics](/source/Literary_critic). [John Leonard](/source/John_Leonard_(American_critic)) praised her 1980 novel *[The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five](/source/The_Marriages_Between_Zones_Three%2C_Four_and_Five)* in *The New York Times*,[48] but in 1982 he wrote in reference to *[The Making of the Representative for Planet 8](/source/The_Making_of_the_Representative_for_Planet_8_(novel))* that "[o]ne of the many sins for which the 20th century will be held accountable is that it has discouraged Mrs. Lessing... She now propagandises on behalf of our insignificance in the cosmic razzmatazz",[49] to which Lessing replied: "What they didn't realise was that in science fiction is some of the best [social fiction](/source/Social_fiction) of our time. I also admire the classic sort of science fiction, like *[Blood Music](/source/Blood_Music_(novel))*, by [Greg Bear](/source/Greg_Bear). He's a great writer."[50] She attended [the 1987](/source/45th_World_Science_Fiction_Convention) [World Science Fiction Convention](/source/World_Science_Fiction_Convention) as its Writer Guest of Honor. Here she made a speech in which she described her [dystopian](/source/Dystopian) novel *[Memoirs of a Survivor](/source/Memoirs_of_a_Survivor)* as "an attempt at an autobiography".[51]

The *Canopus in Argos* novels present an advanced interstellar society's efforts to accelerate the evolution of other worlds, including Earth. Using [Sufi](/source/Sufi) concepts, to which Lessing had been introduced in the mid-1960s by her "good friend and teacher" [Idries Shah](/source/Idries_Shah),[44] the series of novels also uses an approach similar to that employed by the early 20th-century mystic [G. I. Gurdjieff](/source/G._I._Gurdjieff) in his work *[All and Everything](/source/All_and_Everything)*. Earlier works of "inner space" fiction like *[Briefing for a Descent into Hell](/source/Briefing_for_a_Descent_into_Hell)* (1971) and *[Memoirs of a Survivor](/source/Memoirs_of_a_Survivor)* (1974) also connect to this theme. Lessing's interest had turned to Sufism after coming to the realisation that Marxism ignored spiritual matters, leaving her disillusioned.[52]

Lessing's novel *[The Golden Notebook](/source/The_Golden_Notebook)* is considered a feminist classic by some scholars,[53] but notably not by the author herself, who later wrote that its theme of mental breakdowns as a means of healing and freeing one's self from illusions had been overlooked by critics. She also regretted that critics failed to appreciate the exceptional structure of the novel. She explained in *Walking in the Shade* that she modelled Molly partly on her good friend [Joan Rodker](/source/Joan_Rodker), the daughter of the modernist poet and publisher [John Rodker](/source/John_Rodker).[54]

Lessing did not like being pigeonholed as a feminist author. When asked why, she explained:

What the feminists want of me is something they haven't examined because it comes from religion. They want me to bear witness. What they would really like me to say is, 'Ha, sisters, I stand with you side by side in your struggle toward the golden dawn where all those beastly men are no more.' Do they really want people to make oversimplified statements about men and women? In fact, they do. I've come with great regret to this conclusion.

— Doris Lessing, *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*, 25 July 1982[10]

## Doris Lessing Society

The Doris Lessing Society is dedicated to supporting the scholarly study of Lessing's work. The formal structure of the Society dates from January 1977, when the first issue of the *Doris Lessing Newsletter* was published. In 2002, the newsletter became the academic journal *Doris Lessing Studies*. The Society also organises panels at the [Modern Languages Association (MLA)](/source/Modern_Language_Association) annual Conventions and has held two international conferences in [New Orleans](/source/New_Orleans) in 2004 and [Leeds](/source/Leeds) in 2007.[55]

## Archives

Lessing's literary archive is held by the [Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center](/source/Harry_Ransom_Humanities_Research_Center), at the [University of Texas at Austin](/source/University_of_Texas_at_Austin). The 76 archival boxes of Lessing's materials at the Ransom Center contain nearly all of her extant manuscripts and typescripts up to 2008. Original material for Lessing's early books is assumed not to exist because she kept none of her early manuscripts.[56] The [McFarlin](/source/Robert_M._McFarlin) Library at the [University of Tulsa](/source/University_of_Tulsa) holds a smaller collection.[57]

The [University of East Anglia](/source/University_of_East_Anglia)'s British Archive for Contemporary Writing holds Lessing's personal archive: a vast collection of professional and personal correspondence, including the Whitehorn letters, a collection of love letters from the 1940s, written when Lessing was still living in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). The collection also includes forty years of personal diaries. Some of the archive remained embargoed during the writing of Lessing's official [biography](/source/Biography).[58]

## Awards

- [Somerset Maugham Award](/source/Somerset_Maugham_Award) (1954)

- *[Prix Médicis étranger](/source/Prix_M%C3%A9dicis_%C3%A9tranger)* (1976)

- [Austrian State Prize for European Literature](/source/Austrian_State_Prize_for_European_Literature) (1981)

- [Shakespeare Prize](/source/Shakespeare_Prize) of the [Alfred Toepfer Foundation](/source/Alfred_Toepfer_Foundation), Hamburg (1982)

- [WH Smith Literary Award](/source/WH_Smith_Literary_Award) (1986)

- Palermo Prize (1987)

- *Premio Internazionale Mondello* (1987)

- [Grinzane Cavour Prize](/source/Grinzane_Cavour_Prize) (1989)

- [James Tait Black Memorial Prize](/source/James_Tait_Black_Memorial_Prize) for biography (1995)

- [Los Angeles Times Book Prize](/source/Los_Angeles_Times_Book_Prize) (1995)

- [Catalonia International Prize](/source/Catalonia_International_Prize) (1999)[59]

- [Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour](/source/Member_of_the_Order_of_the_Companions_of_Honour) (1999)

- [Companion of Literature](/source/Companion_of_Literature) of the [Royal Society of Literature](/source/Royal_Society_of_Literature) (2000)

- [David Cohen Prize](/source/David_Cohen_Prize) (2001)

- *[Premio Príncipe de Asturias](/source/Premio_Pr%C3%ADncipe_de_Asturias)* (2001)

- [S.T. Dupont Golden PEN Award](/source/S.T._Dupont_Golden_PEN_Award) (2002)[60]

- [Nobel Prize in Literature](/source/Nobel_Prize_in_Literature) (2007)

- [Order of Mapungubwe](/source/Order_of_Mapungubwe): Category II Gold (2008)[61]

## Publications

Novels The Grass Is Singing (1950) (filmed as Killing Heat (1981)) Retreat to Innocence (1956) The Golden Notebook (1962) Briefing for a Descent into Hell (1971) The Summer Before the Dark (1973) The Memoirs of a Survivor (1974) The Diary of a Good Neighbour (as Jane Somers, 1983) If the Old Could... (as Jane Somers, 1984) The Good Terrorist (1985) The Fifth Child (1988) Love, Again (1996) Mara and Dann (1999) Ben, in the World (2000) – sequel to The Fifth Child The Sweetest Dream (2001) The Story of General Dann and Mara's Daughter, Griot and the Snow Dog (2005) – the sequel to Mara and Dann The Cleft (2007) Children of Violence series (1952–1969) Martha Quest (1952) A Proper Marriage (1954) A Ripple from the Storm (1958) Landlocked (1965) The Four-Gated City (1969) Canopus in Argos: Archives series (1979–1983) Shikasta (1979) The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five (1980) The Sirian Experiments (1980) The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 (1982) The Sentimental Agents in the Volyen Empire (1983) Opera libretti The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 (music by Philip Glass, 1986) The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five (music by Philip Glass, 1997) Comics Playing the Game (graphic novel illustrated by Charlie Adlard, 1995) Drama Each His Own Wilderness (three plays, 1959) Play with a Tiger (1962) Poetry collections Fourteen Poems (1959) The Wolf People – INPOPA Anthology 2002 (poems by Lessing, Robert Twigger and T.H. Benson, 2002) Short story collections This Was the Old Chief's Country (1951) Five Short Novels (1953) The Habit of Loving (1957) (including the story Through the Tunnel (1955)[62]) A Man and Two Women (1963) African Stories (1964) (including the story The Black Madonna (1957)) Winter in July (1966) The Story of a Non-Marrying Man (1972) This Was the Old Chief's Country: Collected African Stories, Vol. 1 (1973) The Sun Between Their Feet: Collected African Stories, Vol. 2 (1973) To Room Nineteen: Collected Stories, Vol. 1 (1978) The Temptation of Jack Orkney: Collected Stories, Vol. 2 (1978) Stories (1978) London Observed: Stories and Sketches (1992) The Real Thing: Stories and Sketches (1992) Spies I Have Known (1995) The Pit (1996) The Grandmothers: Four Short Novels (2003) (filmed as Two Mothers) Cat Tales Particularly Cats (stories and nonfiction, 1967) Particularly Cats and Rufus the Survivor (stories and nonfiction, 1993) The Old Age of El Magnifico (stories and nonfiction, 2000) On Cats (2002) – omnibus edition containing the above three books Autobiography and memoirs Going Home (memoir, 1957) African Laughter: Four Visits to Zimbabwe (memoir, 1992) Under My Skin: Volume One of My Autobiography, to 1949 (1994) Walking in the Shade: Volume Two of My Autobiography, 1949 to 1962 (1997) Alfred and Emily (memoir/fiction hybrid, 2008) Other non-fiction In Pursuit of the English (1960) Prisons We Choose to Live Inside (essays, 1987) The Wind Blows Away Our Words (1987) A Small Personal Voice (essays, 1994) Conversations (interviews, edited by Earl G. Ingersoll, 1994) Putting the Questions Differently (interviews, edited by Earl G. Ingersoll, 1996) Time Bites: Views and Reviews (essays, 2004) On Not Winning the Nobel Prize (Nobel Lecture, 2007, published 2008)

## See also

- [List of female Nobel laureates](/source/List_of_female_Nobel_laureates)

- [Declining a British honour](/source/Declining_a_British_honour)

## References

**Notes**

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-telegraph_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-telegraph_1-1) [Stanford, Peter](/source/Peter_Stanford) (22 November 2013). ["Doris Lessing: A mother much misunderstood"](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10467963/Doris-Lessing-A-mother-much-misunderstood.html). *[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph)*. [Archived](https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10467963/Doris-Lessing-A-mother-much-misunderstood.html) from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 8 October 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["NobelPrize.org"](https://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2007/index.html). [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20110604215439/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2007/index.html) from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 11 October 2007.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Crown, Sarah (11 October 2007). ["Doris Lessing wins Nobel prize"](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/oct/11/nobelprize.awardsandprizes). *The Guardian*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20190106204233/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/oct/11/nobelprize.awardsandprizes) from the original on 6 January 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2022.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Editors at BBC. ["Author Lessing wins Nobel honour"](https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7039100.stm) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20250818112839/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7039100.stm) 18 August 2025 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine), BBC News, 23 October 2007. Retrieved 12 October 2007.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-oldest_5-0)** Marchand, Philip. ["Doris Lessing oldest to win literature award"](https://www.thestar.com/article/266062) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20121013151005/http://www.thestar.com/article/266062) 13 October 2012 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine). *Toronto Star*, 12 October 2007. Retrieved 13 October 2007.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** (5 January 2008). ["The 50 greatest British writers since 1945"](https://web.archive.org/web/20110425050801/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article3127837.ece). Archived from [the original](http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article3127837.ece) on 25 April 2011. Retrieved 17 April 2008.. *The Times*. Retrieved 25 April 2011.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-englishbloom_7-0)** Hazelton, Lesley (11 October 2007). ["Golden Notebook' Author Lessing Wins Nobel Prize"](https://web.archive.org/web/20131024030417/http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=anexY5Z5sGgw&refer=home). *Bloomberg*. Archived from [the original](https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=anexY5Z5sGgw) on 24 October 2013. Retrieved 11 October 2007.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-broken_8-0)** Carole Klein. ["Doris Lessing"](https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/k/klein-lessing.html). *The New York Times*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20081209182045/http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/k/klein-lessing.html) from the original on 9 December 2008. Retrieved 11 October 2007.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-scifirefa_9-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-scifirefa_9-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-scifirefa_9-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-scifirefa_9-3) Liukkonen, Petri. ["Doris Lessing"](https://web.archive.org/web/20080608133357/http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/dlessing.htm). *Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi)*. Finland: [Kuusankoski](/source/Kuusankoski) Public Library. Archived from [the original](http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/dlessing.htm) on 8 June 2008.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-space_fiction_10-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-space_fiction_10-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-space_fiction_10-2) Hazelton, Lesley (25 July 1982). ["Doris Lessing on Feminism, Communism and 'Space Fiction'"](https://mural.uv.es/vemivein/feminismcommunism.htm). *The New York Times*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20071013034538/http://mural.uv.es/vemivein/feminismcommunism.htm) from the original on 13 October 2007. Retrieved 11 October 2007.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-bbcref1_11-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-bbcref1_11-1) ["Author Lessing wins Nobel honour"](https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7039100.stm). *BBC News*. 11 October 2007. Retrieved 11 October 2007.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-dobref_12-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-dobref_12-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-dobref_12-2) ["Biography"](https://web.archive.org/web/20110725105707/http://www.dorislessing.org/biography.html). *A Reader's Guide to The Golden Notebook and Under My Skin*. [HarperCollins](/source/HarperCollins). 1995. Archived from [the original](http://www.dorislessing.org/biography.html) on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 11 October 2007.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-UnderMySkin_13-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-UnderMySkin_13-1) Lessing, Doris (1994). [*Under My Skin: Volume One of My Autobiography, to 1949*](https://archive.org/details/undermyskinvolum01less). London: Harper Collins. p. [147](https://archive.org/details/undermyskinvolum01less/page/147). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [000255545X](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/000255545X).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** Lessing, Doris (20 August 2003). [*A Home for the Highland Cattle and the Antheap*](https://books.google.com/books?id=5twsK0hVK2MC&q=doris+lessing+left+book+club+1942&pg=PA27). Petersborough: Broadview Press. p. 27. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-55111-363-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-55111-363-0).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** Flood, Alison (22 October 2008). ["Doris Lessing donates revelatory letters to university"](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/oct/22/doris-lessing-letters). *The Guardian*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** ["Lowering the Bar. When bad mothers give us hope"](http://mag.newsweek.com/2010/05/06/lowering-the-bar.html) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20150430141440/http://mag.newsweek.com/2010/05/06/lowering-the-bar.html) 30 April 2015 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine), *[Newsweek](/source/Newsweek)*, 6 May 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-obit_17-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-obit_17-1) Peter Guttridge (17 November 2013). ["Doris Lessing: Nobel Prize-winning author whose work ranged from social and political realism to science fiction"](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/doris-lessing-nobel-prizewinning-author-whose-work-ranged-from-social-and-political-realism-to-science-fiction-8945459.html). *The Independent*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20150925104857/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/doris-lessing-nobel-prizewinning-author-whose-work-ranged-from-social-and-political-realism-to-science-fiction-8945459.html) from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 17 November 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** Miller, Stephen (17 November 2013). ["Nobel Author Doris Lessing Dies at 94"](https://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304439804579203804274045712). *The Wall Street Journal*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20150925191743/http://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304439804579203804274045712) from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 23 November 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-19)** ["Doris Lessing blows the veil of romanticism off Afghanistan"](https://www.csmonitor.com/1988/0114/dbless.html) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20160901165223/http://www.csmonitor.com/1988/0114/dbless.html) 1 September 2016 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine), *The Christian Science Monitor*, 14 January 1988.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-20)** Shirbon, Estelle, ["British spies reveal file on Nobel-winner Doris Lessing"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160307164336/http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-mi5-lessing-idUKKCN0QP2DY20150820?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews), Reuters, 21 August 2015.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-21)** Norton-Taylor, Richard, ["MI5 spied on Doris Lessing for 20 years, declassified documents reveal"](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/aug/21/mi5-spied-on-doris-lessing-for-20-years-declassified-documents-reveal), *The Guardian*, 21 August 2015.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-22)** Hajer Elarem, 2015. "A Quest for Selfhood: Deconstructing and Reconstructing Female Identity in Doris Lessing's Early Fiction", academic paper. Université de Franche-Comté.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-23)** Lessing, Doris. ["Biography (From the pamphlet: *A Reader's Guide to The Golden Notebook & Under My Skin*, HarperPerennial, 1995)"](https://web.archive.org/web/20110725105707/http://www.dorislessing.org/biography.html). Archived from [the original](http://www.dorislessing.org/biography.html) on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 11 October 2007.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-24)** Kennedy, Maev (17 November 2013). ["Doris Lessing dies aged 94"](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/nov/17/doris-lessing-dies-94). *The Guardian*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20201111205029/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/nov/17/doris-lessing-dies-94) from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 11 December 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-25)** ["The Diary of a Good Neighbour by Doris Lessing"](http://www.dorislessing.org/thea.html). Doris Lessing. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20121101152201/http://www.dorislessing.org/thea.html) from the original on 1 November 2012. Retrieved 13 August 2012.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-26)** ["If the Old Could by Doris Lessing"](http://www.dorislessing.org/ifthe.html). *www.dorislessing.org*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20070923113931/http://www.dorislessing.org/ifthe.html) from the original on 23 September 2007. Retrieved 16 October 2007.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-27)** Hanft, Adam. ["When Doris Lessing Became Jane Somers and Tricked the Publishing World (And Possibly Herself In the Process)"](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-hanft/when-doris-lessing-became_b_68118.html) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20161220025935/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-hanft/when-doris-lessing-became_b_68118.html) 20 December 2016 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine). *The Huffington Post*, 10 November 2007. Updated 25 May 2011. Retrieved 7 September 2017.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-28)** Flood, Alison (22 October 2008). ["Doris Lessing donates revelatory letters to university"](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/oct/22/doris-lessing-letters). *[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)*. Retrieved 15 October 2012.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-29)** ["Doris Lessing interview"](https://web.archive.org/web/20071014024848/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/audiointerviews/profilepages/lessingd2.shtml). BBC Radio. Archived from [the original](https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/audiointerviews/profilepages/lessingd2.shtml) (Audio) on 14 October 2007. Retrieved 11 October 2007.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-30)** ["Companions of Literature list"](https://web.archive.org/web/20070707111745/http://www.rslit.org/companions.htm). Archived from [the original](http://www.rslit.org/companions.htm) on 7 July 2007. Retrieved 11 October 2007.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-winsprise_31-0)** Rich, Motoko and Lyall, Sarah. ["Doris Lessing Wins Nobel Prize in Literature"](https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/11/world/11cnd-nobel.html?ex=1349841600&en=fe6db48996e06f03&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20170625061938/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/11/world/11cnd-nobel.html?ex=1349841600&en=fe6db48996e06f03&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink) 25 June 2017 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine). *The New York Times*. Retrieved 11 October 2007.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-32)** Hurwicz won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science in 2007 aged 90. Davis received the 2002 Physics Prize at 88 years 57 days. Their birth dates are shown in their biographies at the [Nobel Prize website](https://www.nobelprize.org) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/19990427053453/https://www.nobelprize.org/) 27 April 1999 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine), which states that the awards are given annually on 10 December.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-33)** Pierre-Henry Deshayes. ["Doris Lessing wins Nobel Literature Prize"](http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22571058-663,00.html) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20071013083314/http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22571058-663,00.html) 13 October 2007 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine). *Herald Sun*. Retrieved 16 October 2007.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-34)** Schwartz, Alexandra (20 November 2013). ["On Doris Lessing and Not Saying Thank You"](https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/on-doris-lessing-and-not-saying-thank-you). *The New Yorker*. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0028-792X](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0028-792X). Retrieved 12 February 2026.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-35)** Picheta, Rob (9 October 2021). ["Hearing you've won a Nobel is incredible for most people. For some, it just spoils their sleep"](https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/09/world/nobel-prizes-winners-reactions-intl-cmd). *CNN*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20211026225728/https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/09/world/nobel-prizes-winners-reactions-intl-cmd/) from the original on 26 October 2021. Retrieved 12 February 2026.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-36)** Reynolds, Nigel. ["Doris Lessing wins Nobel prize for literature"](https://web.archive.org/web/20071012091706/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10/11/nlessing111.xml). *The Telegraph*. Retrieved 15 October 2007.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-37)** ["Valuable Books and Manuscripts"](https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=6118889). Christie's. 13 December 2017. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20171209043947/http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=6118889) from the original on 9 December 2017. Retrieved 7 December 2017.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-flood2017_38-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-flood2017_38-1) Alison Flood (7 December 2017). ["Doris Lessing's Nobel medal goes up for auction"](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/dec/07/doris-lessing-nobel-prize-literature-medal-goes-up-for-auction). *The Guardian*. Retrieved 7 December 2017.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-progressive_39-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-progressive_39-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-progressive_39-2) Raskin, Jonah (June 1999). ["The Progressive Interview: Doris Lessing"](http://www.dorislessing.org/theprogressive.html). *The Progressive (reprint)*. dorislessing.org. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20130603231945/http://www.dorislessing.org/theprogressive.html) from the original on 3 June 2013. Retrieved 17 November 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Verongos_40-0)** Helen T. Verongos (17 November 2013). ["Doris Lessing, Novelist Who Won 2007 Nobel, is Dead at 94"](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/18/books/doris-lessing-novelist-who-won-2007-nobel-is-dead-at-94.html). *The New York Times*. Retrieved 17 November 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-41)** Maslen, Elizabeth (1 January 2017). "Lessing [née Tayler], Doris May (1919–2013), writer". *[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography](/source/Dictionary_of_National_Biography#Oxford_Dictionary_of_National_Biography)* (online ed.). Oxford University Press. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1093/ref:odnb/108270](https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fref%3Aodnb%2F108270).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-42)** ["Author Doris Lessing dies aged 94"](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24979129) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20180317043924/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24979129) 17 March 2018 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine), BBC. Retrieved 17 November 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-43)** ["Humanists UK launches first ever funeral tribute archive"](https://humanism.org.uk/2018/04/24/humanists-uk-launches-first-ever-funeral-tribute-archive/). *[Humanists UK](/source/Humanists_UK)*. 24 April 2018. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20191023095105/https://humanism.org.uk/2018/04/24/humanists-uk-launches-first-ever-funeral-tribute-archive/) from the original on 23 October 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2010.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Lessingon_44-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Lessingon_44-1) Lessing, Doris. ["On the Death of Idries Shah (excerpt from Shah's obituary in the London *The Daily Telegraph*)"](http://www.dorislessing.org/on.html). dorislessing.org. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20171114223939/http://www.dorislessing.org/on.html) from the original on 14 November 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2008.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-45)** Pinckney, Darryl. ["Zimbabwe's Wounds of Empire | Darryl Pinckney"](https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2023/04/06/zimbabwes-wounds-of-empire-tsitsi-dangarembga/). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0028-7504](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0028-7504). [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20230423155239/https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2023/04/06/zimbabwes-wounds-of-empire-tsitsi-dangarembga/) from the original on 23 April 2023. Retrieved 23 April 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-46)** French, Patrick (3 March 2018). ["Free Woman: Life, Liberation and Doris Lessing by Lara Feigel – review"](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/mar/03/free-woman-life-liberation-doris-lessing-lara-feigel-review). *The Guardian*. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0261-3077](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0261-3077). Retrieved 23 April 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-47)** ["Doris Lessing: the Sufi connection"](https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/doris-lessing-sufi-connection/). *openDemocracy*. Retrieved 23 April 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-48)** Leonard, John (27 March 1980). ["Books of the Times; Gentle Book"](https://www.nytimes.com/1980/03/27/archives/books-of-the-times-gentle-book.html). *The New York Times*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20230416115026/https://www.nytimes.com/1980/03/27/archives/books-of-the-times-gentle-book.html) from the original on 16 April 2023. Retrieved 24 December 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-49)** [Leonard, John](/source/John_Leonard_(American_critic)) (7 February 1982). ["The Spacing Out of Doris Lessing"](https://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/07/books/the-spacing-out-of-doris-lessing.html). *The New York Times*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20100120064720/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/07/books/the-spacing-out-of-doris-lessing.html) from the original on 20 January 2010. Retrieved 16 October 2008.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-50)** *[Doris Lessing: Hot Dawns](http://www.dorislessing.org/boston.html) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20180920180702/http://www.dorislessing.org/boston.html) 20 September 2018 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine)*, interview by Harvey Blume in *Boston Book Review*

1. **[^](#cite_ref-51)** "Guest of Honor Speech", in *Worldcon Guest of Honor Speeches*, edited by Mike Resnick and Joe Siclari (Deerfield, IL: ISFIC Press, 2006), p. 192.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-52)** "Postcolonial Nostalgias: Writing, Representation and Memory", Volume 31 of *Routledge research in postcolonial literatures*, Dennis Walder, Taylor & Francis ltd, 2010, p92. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780203840382](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780203840382).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-NPR_53-0)** ["Fresh Air Remembers 'Golden Notebook' Author Doris Lessing"](https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=245955408). NPR. 18 November 2013. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20131119201951/http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=245955408) from the original on 19 November 2013. Retrieved 19 November 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-54)** Scott, Lynda, ["Lessing's Early and Transitional Novels: The Beginnings of a Sense of Selfhood"](http://www.otago.ac.nz/DeepSouth/0498/0498lynda.htm) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20081020001123/http://www.otago.ac.nz/DeepSouth/0498/0498lynda.htm) 20 October 2008 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine), *Deepsouth*, vol. 4, no. 1 (Autumn 1998). Retrieved 17 October 2007.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-55)** ["Doris Lessing Society"](https://dorislessingsociety.wordpress.com/). *Doris Lessing Society*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20250713024205/https://dorislessingsociety.wordpress.com/) from the original on 13 July 2025. Retrieved 25 September 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-56)** ["Harry Ransom Center Holds Archive of Nobel Laureate Doris Lessing"](https://web.archive.org/web/20081011203333/http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/press/releases/2007/lessing.html). hrc.utexas.edu. Archived from [the original](http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/press/releases/2007/lessing.html) on 11 October 2008. Retrieved 17 March 2008.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-57)** ["Doris Lessing manuscripts"](https://utulsa.as.atlas-sys.com/repositories/2/resources/260). lib.utulsa.edu. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20200729233829/https://utulsa.as.atlas-sys.com/repositories/2/resources/260) from the original on 29 July 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2007.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-58)** ["Doris Lessing Archive"](http://www.uea.ac.uk/bacw/lessing). University of Tulsa. Retrieved 5 July 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-59)** ["Memòria del Departament de Cultura 1999"](http://www20.gencat.cat/docs/CulturaDepartament/Cultura/Documents/Arxiu/Arxius%20GT/MemoriaDC1999.pdf) (PDF) (in Catalan). Generalitat de Catalunya. 1999. p. 38. [Archived](https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www20.gencat.cat/docs/CulturaDepartament/Cultura/Documents/Arxiu/Arxius%20GT/MemoriaDC1999.pdf) (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 17 November 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-60)** ["Golden Pen Award, official website"](https://web.archive.org/web/20121121020544/http://www.englishpen.org/prizes/golden-pen-award-for-a-lifetimes-distinguished-service-to-literature/). [English PEN](/source/English_PEN). Archived from [the original](http://www.englishpen.org/prizes/golden-pen-award-for-a-lifetimes-distinguished-service-to-literature) on 21 November 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2012.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-OMG_61-0)** ["National Orders Recipients 2008"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160122124823/http://www.sahistory.org.za/technology/national-orders-recipients-2008). South African History Online. 28 October 2008. Archived from [the original](http://www.sahistory.org.za/technology/national-orders-recipients-2008) on 22 January 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-62)** Lessing, Doris. "Through the Tunnel." The New Yorker, 6 Aug. 1955, p. 67.

**Further reading**

- [Essay on Doris Lessing's life and work, with particular reference to The Golden Notebook](https://aeon.co/essays/what-we-can-learn-from-doris-lessings-experiments-in-living), by Catherine Taylor, [Aeon (magazine)](/source/Aeon_(magazine)), 5 March 2026

- [Diski, Jenny](/source/Jenny_Diski) (2016). [*In gratitude*](https://books.google.com/books?id=HwupCwAAQBAJ). London, UK: Bloomsbury Publishing. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-408-87992-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-408-87992-4).

- Fahim, Shadia S. (1995). [*Doris Lessing: Sufi Equilibrium and the Form of the Novel*](https://books.google.com/books?id=KlR0QgAACAAJ). Basingstoke, UK/New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan/St. Martins Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-312-10293-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-312-10293-3).

- Frick, Thomas (Spring 1988). ["Doris Lessing, The Art of Fiction No. 102"](http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2537/the-art-of-fiction-no-102-doris-lessing). *The Paris Review*. Spring 1988 (106). [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20141107121149/http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2537/the-art-of-fiction-no-102-doris-lessing) from the original on 7 November 2014. Retrieved 6 November 2010.

- Galin, Müge (1997). [*Between East and West: Sufism in the Novels of Doris Lessing*](https://books.google.com/books?id=EbHys4CzN0YC&pg=PP1). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-7914-3383-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-7914-3383-8).

- Raschke, Debrah; Sternberg Perrakis, Phyllis; Singer, Sandra (2010). [*Doris Lessing: Interrogating the Times*](https://web.archive.org/web/20160402211905/https://ohiostatepress.org/index.htm?books/book%2520pages/raschke%2520doris.html). Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-8142-1136-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-8142-1136-6). Archived from [the original](https://ohiostatepress.org/index.htm?books/book%20pages/raschke%20doris.html) on 2 April 2016. Retrieved 23 August 2012.

- Ridout, Alice (2010). *Contemporary Women Writers Look Back: From Irony to Nostalgia*. London: Continuum International Publishing. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-4411-3023-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-4411-3023-5).

- Ridout, Alice; Watkins, Susan (2009). *Doris Lessing: Border Crossings*. London: Continuum International Publishing. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-4411-0416-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-4411-0416-8).

- [Skille, Nan Bentzen](/source/Nan_Bentzen_Skille) (1977). [*Fragmentation and Integration. A Critical Study of Doris Lessing, The Golden Notebook*](https://books.google.com/books?id=1STUOwAACAAJ). University of Bergen.[*[permanent dead link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Link_rot)*]

- Watkins, Susan (2010). [*Doris Lessing*](http://www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9780719074813). Manchester UP. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-7190-7481-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-7190-7481-3).{{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_deprecated_archival_service))

- Wolfe, Graham (2019). [*Theatre-Fiction in Britain from Henry James to Doris Lessing: Writing in the Wings*](https://books.google.com/books?id=jQedDwAAQBAJ&q=theatre-fiction+in+Britain+Routledge&pg=PT2). Routledge. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781000124361](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781000124361).

## External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Doris Lessing](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Doris_Lessing).

Wikiquote has quotations related to ***[Doris Lessing](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Special:Search/Doris_Lessing)***.

- [Doris Lessing Society](http://www.dorislessingsociety.wordpress.com/)

- [Doris Lessing Papers](https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00166) at the [Harry Ransom Center](/source/Harry_Ransom_Center)

- [Doris Lessing Papers](https://www.uea.ac.uk/library/british-archive-for-contemporary-writing/a-z-writers/doris-lessing) at the [University of East Anglia](/source/University_of_East_Anglia)

- [Doris Lessing Collection](https://utulsa.as.atlas-sys.com/repositories/2/resources/260) at the [University of Tulsa](/source/University_of_Tulsa)

- [Works by Doris Lessing](https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL27709A) at [Open Library](/source/Open_Library)

- [List of Works](http://noblib.internet-box.ch/NLEW.php?authorid=124)

- [Doris Lessing](https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?831) at the [Internet Speculative Fiction Database](/source/Internet_Speculative_Fiction_Database)

- [Doris Lessing](https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/doris-lessing) at [British Council](/source/British_Council): Literature

- *[British author Doris Lessing reacts to Nobel win](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuBODHFBZ8k) on [YouTube](/source/YouTube_video_(identifier))* (Reuters, 11 Oct 2007)

- [Doris Lessing](https://www.nobelprize.org/laureate/817) on Nobelprize.org with the Nobel Lecture 7 December 2007 *On not winning the Nobel Prize*

- [Doris Lessing](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0504363/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier))

- [Transcript of Doris Lessing's "Dame" rejection letter to the John Major Government](http://www.lettersofnote.com/2013/11/dame-of-what.html) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20171228121902/http://www.lettersofnote.com/2013/11/dame-of-what.html) 28 December 2017 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine)

- [Doris Lessing, Excerpts 'On Cats'](https://www.thegreatcat.org/cat-stories-cats-doris-lessing/)

- [Doris Lessing homepage](http://www.dorislessing.org/) created by Jan Hanford

- ["The shadow of the fifth": patterns of exclusion in Doris Lessing's *The Fifth Child* (Anne-Laure Brevet)](https://archive.today/20130213085512/http://cle.ens-lyon.fr/81124711/0/fiche___pagelibre/)

- [Doris Lessing at](https://www.webofstories.com/people/doris.lessing) [Web of Stories](/source/Web_of_Stories) (videos)

- [Joyce Carol Oates on Doris Lessing](https://web.archive.org/web/20110504061956/http://www.usfca.edu/jco/dorislessing/)

- [Doris Lessing Page at *Guardian Unlimited*](https://www.theguardian.com/books/news/page/0,,2188798,00.html)

- [Doris Lessing, Author Who Swept Aside Convention, Is Dead at 94](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/18/books/doris-lessing-novelist-who-won-2007-nobel-is-dead-at-94.html?pagewanted=all), by Helen T Virongos & Emma G. Fitzsimmons, New York Times, 2013-11-18. (Page A1, 2013-11-17).

- [Appearances](https://www.c-span.org/person/?51305) on [C-SPAN](/source/C-SPAN)

- [Portraits of Doris Lessing](https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person.php?LinkID=mp10829) at the [National Portrait Gallery, London](/source/National_Portrait_Gallery%2C_London)

- [Cats in Literature – Doris Lessing](http://www.thegreatcat.org/cats-20th-century-cats-literature-doris-lessing/) [*[dead link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Link_rot)*]

v t e Works by Doris Lessing Fiction The Grass Is Singing The Golden Notebook Briefing for a Descent into Hell The Memoirs of a Survivor The Good Terrorist The Fifth Child Ben, in the World The Sweetest Dream The Cleft Children of Violence series Martha Quest A Proper Marriage A Ripple from the Storm Landlocked The Four-Gated City Canopus in Argos series Shikasta The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five The Sirian Experiments The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 The Sentimental Agents in the Volyen Empire Short stories "Through the Tunnel" "Flight" Collections Prisons We Choose to Live Inside The Grandmothers: Four Short Novels Autobiography/ memoirs Under My Skin Alfred and Emily Related The Making of the Representative for Planet 8

Awards received by Doris Lessing v t e Recipients of the Austrian State Prize for European Literature Zbigniew Herbert (1965) W. H. Auden (1966) Vasko Popa (1967) Václav Havel (1968) Not given (1969) Eugène Ionesco (1970) Peter Huchel (1971) Sławomir Mrożek (1972) Harold Pinter (1973) Sándor Weöres (1974) Miroslav Krleža (1975) Italo Calvino (1976) Pavel Kohout (1977) Simone de Beauvoir (1978) Fulvio Tomizza (1979) Sarah Kirsch (1980) Doris Lessing (1981) Tadeusz Różewicz (1982) Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1983) Christa Wolf (1984) Stanisław Lem (1985) Giorgio Manganelli (1986) Milan Kundera (1987) Andrzej Szczypiorski (1988) Marguerite Duras (1989) Helmut Heissenbüttel (1990) Péter Nádas (1991) Salman Rushdie (1992) Chinghiz Aitmatov (1993) Inger Christensen (1994) Aleksandar Tišma (1995) Jürg Laederach (1996) Antonio Tabucchi (1997) Dubravka Ugrešić (1998) Péter Esterházy (1999) António Lobo Antunes (2000) Umberto Eco (2001) Christoph Hein (2002) Cees Nooteboom (2003) Julian Barnes (2004) Claudio Magris (2005) Jorge Semprún (2006) A. L. Kennedy (2007) Ágota Kristóf (2008) Per Olov Enquist (2009) Paul Nizon (2010) Javier Marías (2011) Patrick Modiano (2012) John Banville (2013) Lyudmila Ulitskaya (2014) Mircea Cărtărescu (2015) Andrzej Stasiuk (2016) Karl Ove Knausgård (2017) Zadie Smith (2018) Michel Houellebecq (2019) Drago Jančar (2020) László Krasznahorkai (2021) Ali Smith (2022) Marie NDiaye (2023) Joanna Bator (2024) Serhiy Zhadan (2025) v t e Recipients of the Mondello Prize Single Prize for Literature Bartolo Cattafi (1975) Achille Campanile (1976) Günter Grass (1977) Special Jury Prize Denise McSmith (1975) Stefano D'Arrigo (1977) Yury Trifonov (1978) Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz (1979) Pietro Consagra (1980) Ignazio Buttitta, Angelo Maria e Ela Ripellino (1983) Leonardo Sciascia (1985) Wang Meng (1987) Mikhail Gorbachev (1988) Peter Carey, José Donoso, Northrop Frye, Jorge Semprún, Wole Soyinka, Lu Tongliu (1990) Fernanda Pivano (1992) Associazione Scrittori Cinesi (1993) Dong Baoucum, Fan Boaci, Wang Huanbao, Shi Peide, Chen Yuanbin (1995) Xu Huainzhong, Xiao Xue, Yu Yougqnan, Qin Weinjung (1996) Khushwant Singh (1997) Javier Marías (1998) Francesco Burdin (2001) Luciano Erba (2002) Isabella Quarantotti De Filippo (2003) Marina Rullo (2006) Andrea Ceccherini (2007) Enrique Vila-Matas (2009) Francesco Forgione (2010) First narrative work Carmelo Samonà (1978) Fausta Garavini (1979) First poetic work Giovanni Giuga (1978) Gilberto Sacerdoti (1979) Prize for foreign literature Milan Kundera (1978) N. Scott Momaday (1979) Juan Carlos Onetti (1980) Tadeusz Konwicki (1981) Prize for foreign poetry Jannis Ritsos (1978) Joseph Brodsky (1979) Juan Gelman (1980) Gyula Illyés (1981) First work Valerio Magrelli (1980) Ferruccio Benzoni, Stefano Simoncelli, Walter Valeri, Laura Mancinelli (1981) Jolanda Insana (1982) Daniele Del Giudice (1983) Aldo Busi (1984) Elisabetta Rasy, Dario Villa (1985) Marco Lodoli, Angelo Mainardi (1986) Marco Ceriani, Giovanni Giudice (1987) Edoardo Albinati, Silvana La Spina (1988) Andrea Canobbio, Romana Petri (1990) Anna Cascella (1991) Marco Caporali, Nelida Milani (1992) Silvana Grasso, Giulio Mozzi (1993) Ernesto Franco (1994) Roberto Deidier (1995) Giuseppe Quatriglio, Tiziano Scarpa (1996) Fabrizio Rondolino (1997) Alba Donati (1998) Paolo Febbraro (1999) Evelina Santangelo (2000) Giuseppe Lupo (2001) Giovanni Bergamini, Simona Corso (2003) Adriano Lo Monaco (2004) Piercarlo Rizzi (2005) Francesco Fontana (2006) Paolo Fallai (2007) Luca Giachi (2008) Carlo Carabba (2009) Gabriele Pedullà (2010) Foreign author Alain Robbe-Grillet (1982) • Thomas Bernhard (1983) • Adolfo Bioy Casares (1984) • Bernard Malamud (1985) • Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1986) • Doris Lessing (1987) • V. S. Naipaul (1988) • Octavio Paz (1989) • Christa Wolf (1990) • Kurt Vonnegut (1991) • Bohumil Hrabal (1992) • Seamus Heaney (1993) • J. M. Coetzee (1994) • Vladimir Voinovich (1995) • David Grossman (1996) • Philippe Jaccottet (1998) • Don DeLillo (1999) • Aleksandar Tišma (2000) • Nuruddin Farah (2001) • Per Olov Enquist (2002) • Adunis (2003) • Les Murray (2004) • Magda Szabó (2005) • Uwe Timm (2006) • Bapsi Sidhwa (2007) • Viktor Yerofeyev (2009) • Edmund White (2010) • Javier Cercas (2011) • Elizabeth Strout (2012) • Péter Esterházy (2013) • Joe R. Lansdale (2014) • Emmanuel Carrère (2015) • Marilynne Robinson (2016) • Cees Nooteboom (2017) Italian Author Alberto Moravia (1982) Vittorio Sereni alla memoria (1983) Italo Calvino (1984) Mario Luzi (1985) Paolo Volponi (1986) Luigi Malerba (1987) Oreste del Buono (1988) Giovanni Macchia (1989) Gianni Celati, Emilio Villa (1990) Andrea Zanzotto (1991) Ottiero Ottieri (1992) Attilio Bertolucci (1993) Luigi Meneghello (1994) Fernando Bandini, Michele Perriera (1995) Nico Orengo (1996) Giuseppe Bonaviri, Giovanni Raboni (1997) Carlo Ginzburg (1998) Alessandro Parronchi (1999) Elio Bartolini (2000) Roberto Alajmo (2001) Andrea Camilleri (2002) Andrea Carraro, Antonio Franchini, Giorgio Pressburger (2003) Maurizio Bettini, Giorgio Montefoschi, Nelo Risi (2004) pr. Raffaele Nigro, sec. Maurizio Cucchi, ter. Giuseppe Conte (2005) pr. Paolo Di Stefano, sec. Giulio Angioni (2006) pr. Mario Fortunato, sec. Toni Maraini, ter. Andrea Di Consoli (2007) pr. Andrea Bajani, sec. Antonio Scurati, ter. Flavio Soriga (2008) pr. Mario Desiati, sec. Osvaldo Guerrieri, ter. Gregorio Scalise (2009) pr. Lorenzo Pavolini, sec. Roberto Cazzola, ter. (2010) pr. Eugenio Baroncelli, sec. Milo De Angelis, ter. Igiaba Scego (2011) pr. Edoardo Albinati, sec. Paolo Di Paolo, ter. Davide Orecchio (2012) pr. Andrea Canobbio, sec. Valerio Magrelli, ter. Walter Siti (2013) pr. Irene Chias, sec. Giorgio Falco, ter. Francesco Pecoraro (2014) pr. Nicola Lagioia, sec. Letizia Muratori, ter. Marco Missiroli (2015) pr. Marcello Fois, sec. Emanuele Tonon, ter. Romana Petri (2016) pr. Stefano Massini, sec. Alessandro Zaccuri, ter. Alessandra Sarchi (2017) "Five Continents" Award Kōbō Abe, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Germaine Greer, Wilson Harris, José Saramago (1992) Kenzaburō Ōe (1993) Stephen Spender (1994) Thomas Keneally, Alberto Arbasino (1996) Margaret Atwood, André Brink, David Malouf, Romesh Gunesekera, Christoph Ransmayr (1997) "Palermo bridge for Europe" Award Dacia Maraini (1999) Alberto Arbasino (2000) Ignazio Buttitta Award Nino De Vita (2003) Attilio Lolini (2005) Roberto Rossi Precerotti (2006) Silvia Bre (2007) Supermondello Tiziano Scarpa (2009) Michela Murgia (2010) Eugenio Baroncelli (2011) Davide Orecchio (2012) Valerio Magrelli (2013) Giorgio Falco (2014) Marco Missiroli (2015) Romana Petri (2016) Stefano Massini (2017) Special award of the President Ibrahim al-Koni (2009) Emmanuele Maria Emanuele (2010) Antonio Calabrò (2011) Poetry prize Antonio Riccardi (2010) Translation Award Evgenij Solonovic (2010) Identity and dialectal literatures award Gialuigi Beccaria e Marco Paolini (2010) Essays Prize Marzio Barbagli (2010) Mondello for Multiculturality Award Kim Thúy (2011) Mondello Youths Award Claudia Durastanti (2011) Edoardo Albinati (2012) Alessandro Zaccuri (2017) "Targa Archimede", Premio all'Intelligenza d'Impresa Enzo Sellerio (2011) Prize for Literary Criticism Salvatore Silvano Nigro (2012) Maurizio Bettini (2013) Enrico Testa (2014) Ermanno Cavazzoni (2015) Serena Vitale (2016) Antonio Prete (2017) Award for best motivation Simona Gioè (2012) Special award for travel literature Marina Valensise (2013) Special Award 40 Years of Mondello Gipi (2014) v t e David Cohen Prize 1990s V. S. Naipaul (1993) Harold Pinter (1995) Muriel Spark (1997) William Trevor (1999) 2000s Doris Lessing (2001) Beryl Bainbridge and Thom Gunn (2003) Michael Holroyd (2005) Derek Mahon (2007) Seamus Heaney (2009) 2010s Julian Barnes (2011) Hilary Mantel (2013) Tony Harrison (2015) Tom Stoppard (2017) Edna O'Brien (2019) 2020s Colm Tóibín (2021) v t e Laureates of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1901–1920 1901: Sully Prudhomme 1902: Theodor Mommsen 1903: Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson 1904: Frédéric Mistral / José Echegaray 1905: Henryk Sienkiewicz 1906: Giosuè Carducci 1907: Rudyard Kipling 1908: Rudolf Eucken 1909: Selma Lagerlöf 1910: Paul Heyse 1911: Maurice Maeterlinck 1912: Gerhart Hauptmann 1913: Rabindranath Tagore 1914 1915: Romain Rolland 1916: Verner von Heidenstam 1917: Karl Gjellerup / Henrik Pontoppidan 1918 1919: Carl Spitteler 1920: Knut Hamsun 1921–1940 1921: Anatole France 1922: Jacinto Benavente 1923: W. B. Yeats 1924: Władysław Reymont 1925: George Bernard Shaw 1926: Grazia Deledda 1927: Henri Bergson 1928: Sigrid Undset 1929: Thomas Mann 1930: Sinclair Lewis 1931: Erik Axel Karlfeldt (posthumously) 1932: John Galsworthy 1933: Ivan Bunin 1934: Luigi Pirandello 1935 1936: Eugene O'Neill 1937: Roger Martin du Gard 1938: Pearl S. Buck 1939: Frans Eemil Sillanpää 1940 1941–1960 1941 1942 1943 1944: Johannes V. Jensen 1945: Gabriela Mistral 1946: Hermann Hesse 1947: André Gide 1948: T. S. Eliot 1949: William Faulkner 1950: Bertrand Russell 1951: Pär Lagerkvist 1952: François Mauriac 1953: Winston Churchill 1954: Ernest Hemingway 1955: Halldór Laxness 1956: Juan Ramón Jiménez 1957: Albert Camus 1958: Boris Pasternak 1959: Salvatore Quasimodo 1960: Saint-John Perse 1961–1980 1961: Ivo Andrić 1962: John Steinbeck 1963: Giorgos Seferis 1964: Jean-Paul Sartre (declined award) 1965: Mikhail Sholokhov 1966: Shmuel Yosef Agnon / Nelly Sachs 1967: Miguel Ángel Asturias 1968: Yasunari Kawabata 1969: Samuel Beckett 1970: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 1971: Pablo Neruda 1972: Heinrich Böll 1973: Patrick White 1974: Eyvind Johnson / Harry Martinson 1975: Eugenio Montale 1976: Saul Bellow 1977: Vicente Aleixandre 1978: Isaac Bashevis Singer 1979: Odysseas Elytis 1980: Czesław Miłosz 1981–2000 1981: Elias Canetti 1982: Gabriel García Márquez 1983: William Golding 1984: Jaroslav Seifert 1985: Claude Simon 1986: Wole Soyinka 1987: Joseph Brodsky 1988: Naguib Mahfouz 1989: Camilo José Cela 1990: Octavio Paz 1991: Nadine Gordimer 1992: Derek Walcott 1993: Toni Morrison 1994: Kenzaburō Ōe 1995: Seamus Heaney 1996: Wisława Szymborska 1997: Dario Fo 1998: José Saramago 1999: Günter Grass 2000: Gao Xingjian 2001–2020 2001: V. S. Naipaul 2002: Imre Kertész 2003: J. M. Coetzee 2004: Elfriede Jelinek 2005: Harold Pinter 2006: Orhan Pamuk 2007: Doris Lessing 2008: J. M. G. Le Clézio 2009: Herta Müller 2010: Mario Vargas Llosa 2011: Tomas Tranströmer 2012: Mo Yan 2013: Alice Munro 2014: Patrick Modiano 2015: Svetlana Alexievich 2016: Bob Dylan 2017: Kazuo Ishiguro 2018: Olga Tokarczuk 2019: Peter Handke 2020: Louise Glück 2021–present 2021: Abdulrazak Gurnah 2022: Annie Ernaux 2023: Jon Fosse 2024: Han Kang 2025: László Krasznahorkai 2026: to be determined v t e 2007 Nobel Prize laureates Chemistry Gerhard Ertl (Germany) Literature (2007) Doris Lessing (Zimbabwe/United Kingdom) Peace (2007) Al Gore (United States) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Physics Albert Fert (France) Peter Grünberg (Germany) Physiology or Medicine Mario Capecchi (United States) Martin Evans (United Kingdom) Oliver Smithies (United States) Economic Sciences Leonid Hurwicz (Poland/United States) Eric Maskin (United States) Roger Myerson (United States) Nobel Prize recipients 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 v t e Laureates of the Prince or Princess of Asturias Award for Literature Prince of Asturias Award for Literature 1981: José Hierro 1982: Miguel Delibes and Gonzalo Torrente Ballester 1983: Juan Rulfo 1984: Pablo García Baena 1985: Ángel González 1986: Mario Vargas Llosa and Rafael Lapesa 1987: Camilo José Cela 1988: Carmen Martín Gaite and José Ángel Valente 1989: Ricardo Gullón 1990: Arturo Uslar Pietri 1991: The people of Puerto Rico 1992: Francisco Nieva 1993: Claudio Rodríguez 1994: Carlos Fuentes 1995: Carlos Bousoño 1996: Francisco Umbral 1997: Álvaro Mutis 1998: Francisco Ayala 1999: Günter Grass 2000: Augusto Monterroso 2001: Doris Lessing 2002: Arthur Miller 2003: Fatema Mernissi and Susan Sontag 2004: Claudio Magris 2005: Nélida Piñon 2006: Paul Auster 2007: Amos Oz 2008: Margaret Atwood 2009: Ismail Kadare 2010: Amin Maalouf 2011: Leonard Cohen 2012: Philip Roth 2013: Antonio Muñoz Molina 2014: John Banville Princess of Asturias Award for Literature 2015: Leonardo Padura 2016: Richard Ford 2017: Adam Zagajewski 2018: Fred Vargas 2019: Siri Hustvedt 2020: Anne Carson 2021: Emmanuel Carrère 2022: Juan Mayorga 2023: Haruki Murakami 2024: Ana Blandiana 2025: Eduardo Mendoza 2026: Julian Barnes v t e Order of Mapungubwe Platinum Nelson Mandela Oliver Tambo Albert Luthuli Gold Allan Cormack F. W. de Klerk Basil Schonland Sydney Brenner J. M. Coetzee Aaron Klug Frank Nabarro Doris Lessing Mangena Mokone Zwelakhe Sisulu Edna Molewa Silver Percy Amoils George Ellis Lionel Opie Patricia Berjak Claire Penn Sibusiso Sibisi Valerie Mizrahi Wieland Gevers Phuti Ngoepe Tim Noakes Pragasen Pillay Hendrik J. Koornhof Bongani Mayosi Johann Lutjeharms Douglas Butterworth Pieter Steyn Barry Schoub Bernie Fanaroff George Ekama Glenda Gray Malegapuru Makgoba Ismail Mohamed Hendrik Simon Schaaf William Soga Fulufhelo Nelwamondo Siyabulela Xuza Malik Maaza Ari Sitas Aboubaker Ebrahim Dangor Vhahangwele Masindi Bronze Peter Beighton Hamilton Naki Tshilidzi Marwala Daya Reddy Tebello Nyokong Himla Soodyall Monique Zaahl Patience Mthunzi-Kufa Quarraisha Abdool Karim Namrita Lall Thokozani Majozi

[Portals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contents/Portals):
- [Poetry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Poetry)
- [Novels](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Novels)
- [Opera](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Opera)
- [Psychology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Psychology)
- [Islam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Islam)
- [Speculative fiction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Speculative_fiction)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Doris Lessing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doris_Lessing) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doris_Lessing?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.