Kathy Lette

Kathy Lette
Born (1958-11-11) 11 November 1958
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Residence Camden, London, United Kingdom
Nationality Australian
Citizenship
  • Australian
  • British[1]
Occupation Author
Years active 1979-present
Spouse(s) Kim Williams
Geoffrey Robertson (m. 1990)
Children Julius Robertson
Georgina Robertson
Website

kathylette.com

Management

Kathryn Marie Lette (born 11 November 1958), better known as Kathy Lette, is an Australian-British author who has written a number of bestselling books. She resides in the London Borough of Camden.[2][3]

Life and career

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 film 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".[4] 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.[5]

Despite maintaining that some snobbish English people can be condescending,[6] Lette lives in London and is married to a fellow Australian expatriate, Geoffrey Robertson, 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. Julius has Asperger syndrome.[7]

In 2007, Lette published the book How to Kill your Husband (and Other Handy Household Hints)[8] 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.[9] 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.[10][11]

Lette teamed 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.

Lette is a supporter of the UK Labour Party.[12] In August 2014, she was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.[13]

Lette left Australia for the United Kingdom in 1988 and took full British citizenship in 2011.[14][15]

In recognition of the success of her many novels and tireless advocacy in equality, human rights, and physical and mental health both nationally and internationally, Lette was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters (Honoris Causa) from the University of Wollongong (UOW) on Thursday 20 April 2017.[16]

Books

Novels

Other

Personal life

In 2009 Lette appeared in the Piers Morgan's Life Stories episode about Dannii Minogue where she was listed as one of Dannii's friends,[17] the friendship between the two has been highly covered by the press and through social media over the years with several news stories merging about the two being together.[18][19][20]

References

  1. ↑ "Author Kathy Lette on her way to becoming a full British citizen - Camden New Journal".
  2. ↑ "Kathy Lette".
  3. ↑ "Kathy Lette".
  4. ↑ "Buskers Lose Freak Tag" by Nancy Berryman, The Sydney Morning Herald (20 August 1978)
  5. ↑ "Kathy Lette Short Biography".
  6. ↑ "Poms: don't you just hate them?" The Independent (30 January 2001)
  7. ↑ Horizon, 1 April 2014
  8. ↑ How to Kill your Husband (and other handy household hints) by Kathy Lette, Simon & Schuster 2007, ISBN 978-0-7434-6876-3
  9. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 23 June 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-06.
  10. ↑ "Honorary degree for Kathy Lette", The Sydney Morning Herald (7 November 2009)
  11. ↑ "Crème de la crim" by Kathy Lette, The Australian (10 March 2010)
  12. ↑ "Parties in pre-election battle to sign up stars" by Vanessa Thorpe, The Observer (14 February 2010)
  13. ↑ "Celebrities' open letter to Scotland – full text and list of signatories | Politics". theguardian.com. 2014-08-07. Retrieved 2014-08-26.
  14. ↑ Hinchliffe, Samuel. "The year that made me: Kathy Lette on moving to England". Abc. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
  15. ↑ Author Kathy Lette on her way to becoming a full British citizen, Camden New Journal, 3 February 2011
  16. ↑ http://media.uow.edu.au/news/UOW231447.html
  17. ↑ Bianca Pereira (2011-01-17), Dannii Minogue on Piers Morgan Life Stories p3, retrieved 2017-01-11
  18. ↑ "Dannii Minogue shows her playful side at fragrance launch as she spanks author Kathy Lette on the bottom". Mail Online. Retrieved 2017-01-11.
  19. ↑ "Dannii Minogue on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2017-01-11.
  20. ↑ Limited, Alamy. "Stock Photo - Dannii Minogue seen here with Novelist Kathy Lette (lft) and fellow australian who is also a doctor of Arts from the Solent University Singer-songwriter, actress, television". Alamy. Retrieved 2017-01-11.
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