Mary Chamberlain (born 3 September 1947) is a British novelist and historian. She has been largely collected by libraries worldwide.
Early life
Chamberlain was born 3 September 1947 in South London, and holds degrees from the
University of Edinburgh,
, and
Royal Holloway, University of London
Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departm ...
.
Family life
She is married to the political scientist
Stein Ringen Stein Ringen (born July 5, 1945) is a Norwegian sociologist and political scientist. He is Professor of Sociology and Social Policy at the Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford, and a Fellow of Green Templeton College, O ...
. Chamberlain was previously married to
Carey Harrison.
Historical career
Chamberlain is Emeritus Professor of History, at
Oxford Brookes University
Oxford Brookes University (formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic (United Kingdom), Polytechnic) is a public university, public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and High ...
. Her book ''Fenwomen. Portrait of Women in an English Village'' was the first book published by
Virago Press in 1975, and pioneered the use of
oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...
in the study of women’s history. It was also the inspiration for the
Joint Stock production of
Caryl Churchill
Caryl Lesley Churchill (born 3 September 1938) is a British playwright known for dramatising the abuses of power, for her use of non- naturalistic techniques, and for her exploration of sexual politics and feminist themes. ’s award-winning play ''Fen'' (1983). Fenwomen was followed by two further books on women’s history: ''Old Wives’ Tales: Their History, Remedies and Spells'' and ''Growing Up In Lambeth''.
From 1987 to 1991, she lived in
Barbados, and began working in Caribbean history. Using oral history, she published two pioneering studies of migration and families, ''Narratives of Exile and Return'' and ''Family Love in the Diaspora: Migration and the Anglo Caribbean Experience'', and a further study of decolonization, ''Empire and Nation-building in the Caribbean: Barbados 1937–1966''.
Chamberlain is widely considered one of the founders of oral history, was the reviews editor of the ''Oral History Journal'' from 1977 to 1987 and co-founder of the London History Workshop Centre. She is the author of many articles on women's history, oral history and Caribbean history, has edited a number of books, and was a founding editor or the series Memory and Narrative. She has served on editorial, advisory and government committees, and held visiting professorships at the
University of the West Indies
The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 17 English-speaking countries and territories in th ...
(1995, 2004), and
New York University (2004). She has been the recipient of a number of research awards and is an adviser to the National Life Story Collection at the
British Library and the Raphael Samuel History Centre.
National Life Stories
National Life Stories is an independent charitable trust and limited company (registered as the ‘National Life Story Collection’) based within the British Library Oral History section, whose key focus and expertise is oral history fieldwork. S ...
conducted an oral history interview (C1149/27) with Mary Chamberlain in 2012 for its Oral History of Oral History collection held by the British Library.
[National Life Stories, 'Chamberlain, Mary (1 of 21) National Life Stories Collection: Oral History of Oral History', The British Library Board, 2012]
Retrieved 9 October 2017
Fiction career
Her UK debut novel ''The Dressmaker of Dachau'' was published in 2015, and has sold to 19 countries. She credits the inspiration for the story to two of her aunts, of whom one left the family and ran away, and the other was imprisoned by the Nazi regime during the
Second World War. Other fiction works include 'The Hidden' in 2019, and 'The Forgotten' in 2021, 'The Lie' in 2023 all published by Oneworld. She is also the author of an earlier novel set in the Caribbean, ''The Mighty Jester''.
Activism
Chamberlain was one of the
London Recruits, a group of young people recruited by the
African National Congress (ANC) in the 1960s and 1970s to smuggle ANC and
SACP
The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by the governing Na ...
literature into South Africa after the ANC had been decimated by the
Rivonia trials of 1963/4.
[Mary Chamberlain]
"My secret war against apartheid: Mary Chamberlain risked everything to help break the regime in South Africa"
'' The Independent'', 8 April 2015.[See als]
London Recruits.
/ref>
Awards
Chamberlain was awarded an honorary Doctorate (D.Litt) by the University of East Anglia in 2021
Bibliography
* ''The Lie'' (2023)
* ''The Forgotten'' (2021)
* ''The Hidden'' (2019)
* ''The Dressmaker of Dachau'' (2015)
* ''The Mighty Jester'' (2014)
* ''Empire and Nation-building in the Caribbean: Barbados 1937 – 1966'' (2010)
* ''Memories of Mass Repression'' (editor, with Nanci Adler, Selma Leydesdorff, Leyla Neyzi, 2009)
* ''Family Love in the Diaspora: Migration and the Anglo Caribbean Experience'' (2006)
* ''Caribbean Families in Britain and the Transatlantic World'' (editor, with Harry Goulbourne, 2001)
* ''Caribbean Migration: Globalised Identities'' (editor, 1998)
* ''Narrative and Genre'' (editor with Paul Thompson, 1998, 2004)
* ''Narratives of Exile and Return'' (1997, 2004)
* ''Growing Up In Lambeth'' (1989)
* ''Writing Lives'' (editor, 1988)
* ''Old Wives’ Tales: Their Histories, Charms, Spells'' (1981, 2006)
* ''Fenwomen: A Portrait of Women in an English Village'' (1975, 1983, 2011)
References
External links
Official websiteOxford Brookes University staff profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chamberlain, Mary
20th-century English historians
21st-century English historians
1947 births
Living people
21st-century English novelists
Writers from London
Alumni of Royal Holloway, University of London
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Alumni of the London School of Economics
English women novelists
British women historians
Academics of Oxford Brookes University
21st-century English women writers
English women non-fiction writers
20th-century English women writers