Kathy Lette

Kathy Lette (born 11 November 1958) is an Australian author who has written a number of bestselling books.

Biography

Born in Sydney's southern suburbs, she first attracted attention in 1979 as the co-author (with friend Gabrielle Carey) of Puberty Blues, a strongly autobiographical, proto-feminist teen novel about two 13-year-old southern suburbs girls attempting to improve their social status by ingratiating themselves with the "Greenhill gang" of surfers. The book was made into a movie in 1981 and a TV series in 2012.

Lette appeared in the The Sydney Morning Herald of 20 August 1978 pictured in Martin Place with her friend Gabrielle Carey in an article titled "Buskers Lose Freak Tag"; they were busking and singing in Martin Place.^[1] A young Lette stood up for buskers' rights not to be moved on as Sydney City Council enforced a 1919 Act of Parliament in New South Wales.

As an adult, Lette became a newspaper columnist and sitcom writer, but returned to the novel form with Girls' Night Out in 1988 and has since written several more novels and plays, including Foetal Attraction, Mad Cows in 1996 (which was made into a film starring Joanna Lumley and Anna Friel) and Dead Sexy.

Despite her stereotyping of English people as condescending and unfriendly,^[2] Lette lives in London and is married to a fellow Australian expatriate, Geoffrey Robertson QC, whom she first met while still married to Kim Williams, when appearing on Robertson's TV panel debate show Hypotheticals. They have two children, Julius and Georgina. Kim Williams, later to become chief executive officer of News Limited, was then CEO of the Australian Film Commission.

In 2007, Lette published the book How to Kill your Husband (and other handy household hints)^[3] which was turned into an opera in 2011 by composer Alan John and playwright Timothy Daly; it was premiered at the Victorian Opera, conducted by Richard Gill.^[4] The same year, she briefly appeared on Sunrise as a London correspondent, a part of the Global Notebook.

In 2008, Lette published To Love, Honour & Betray (Till Divorce Us Do Part), a romantic novel with hints of comedy.

With Jessica Adams, Maggie Alderson and Imogen Edwards-Jones, Lette edited an anthology by prominent women writers of erotic short-stories, In Bed with... (2009), including contributions from Louise Doughty, Esther Freud, Ali Smith, Joan Smith, Rachel Johnson and Fay Weldon, each publishing under a pseudonym.

In April 2009, Lette contributed to the fourth issue of the literary magazine Notes from the Underground with a piece honouring her close friend John Mortimer. In November 2009, she received an honorary doctorate from Southampton Solent University.^[5][6]

Lette teamed up with Radox to write a water-resistant book, which was released free online in September 2009, with an aim to encourage women to be selfish with their time.

She is a supporter of the UK Labour Party.^[7]

Books

Novels

• Puberty Blues (1979) (with Gabrielle Carey)
• Girls' Night Out (1988)
• The Llama Parlour (1992)
• Foetal Attraction (1993)
• Mad Cows (1996)
• Altar Ego (1998)
• Nip 'n' Tuck (2001)
• Dead Sexy (2005)
• How to Kill Your Husband (and Other Handy Household Hints) (2006)
• To Love Honour and Obey (Till Divorce Us Do Part) (2008)
• The Boy Who Fell to Earth (2012)

Other

• Men: a User's Guide (2010) (Humour)

References

External links

• Kathy Lette's homepage