Nell Dunn

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Nell Dunn (1936-), daughter of Sir Philip Dunn, Bt, is an English novelist, short story writer, dramatist and screenwriter.

Nell Dunn was born in London and educated at a convent, which she left at the age of fourteen. Although she herself came from an upperclass background, in 1959 she moved to Battersea and made friends in the neighborhood and worked for a time in a sweets factory. This world inspired much of what Dunn would later write.

Dunn came to fame in 1963 with the publication of Up the Junction, a series of short stories set in South London. The book became a controversial success because of its vibrant, realistic and nonjudgmental portrait of the lower classes. It was filmed for television and film and was awarded the John Llewelyn Memorial Prize.

A collection of interviews, Talking to Women (1965), preceded the publication of her first novel.

In 1967 she published her first novel Poor Cow which was a bestseller and also achieved a succès de scandale. Poor Cow was made into a film starring Carol White and Terence Stamp, under the direction of Ken Loach.

Her more recent adult books are Grandmothers (1991) and My Silver Shoes (1996). Dunn's acclaimed play Steaming was produced in 1981 and her first television film Every Breath You Take, appeared in 1987. She has also written Sisters, a film script commissioned by the BBC.

She was married to the writer Jeremy Sandford. She has three sons.