Esther Freud

Esther Freud
Freud in 2008
Born
London, England
OccupationNovelist
Years active1984–present
Spouse
​
​
(m. 2006; sep. 2020)​
Children3
FatherLucian Freud
FamilyFreud

Esther Freud is a British novelist, known for her autobiographical novel Hideous Kinky (1992). She is the daughter of the painter Lucian Freud.

Early life and education

Born in London,[1] Freud is the daughter of Bernardine Coverley and painter Lucian Freud. She is also a great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud and niece of Clement Freud.[citation needed]

She travelled extensively with her mother as a child, returning to London at 16 to train as an actress at The Drama Centre.[citation needed]

Career

She has worked in television and theatre as both actress and writer. Her first credited television appearance was as a terrified diner in The Bill in 1984, running frantically out of a Chinese restaurant after it had received a bomb scare. A year later she appeared as an alien in the Doctor Who serial Attack of the Cybermen.[2] Her novels include the semi-autobiographical Hideous Kinky, which was adapted into a film starring Kate Winslet.[citation needed]

She is also the author of The Wild, Gaglow, and The Sea House.[3] She also wrote the foreword for The Summer Book by Tove Jansson.[citation needed]

Freud was named as one of the 20 "Best of Young British Novelists" by Granta magazine in 1993.[3] Her novels have been translated into 13 languages.[3] She is also the co-founder (with Kitty Aldridge) of the women's theatre company Norfolk Broads.[citation needed]

In 2009, she donated the short story Rice Cakes and Starbucks to Oxfam's 'Ox-Tales' project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. Her story was published in the 'Water' collection.[4] As of 2014 Freud taught at the Faber Academy.

Personal life

Freud has a sister, fashion designer Bella Freud, and a half-brother, Noah Woodman. Her uncle was politician Sir Clement Freud. She has two cousins in the media industry; public relations executive Matthew and broadcaster Emma.[citation needed]

She was married to actor David Morrissey, with whom she has three children. They married in 2006.[5] They had separated by 2020, when Freud began living with a boyfriend.[6] Freud maintains[when?] homes in London and Walberswick near Southwold in Suffolk.[citation needed]

Freud's maternal grandparents were practising Irish Catholics but her mother was non-observant, while her father's Jewish family were atheists. She identifies herself as Jewish.[7][8][9]

Bibliography

Novels

  • Hideous Kinky (1992)
  • Peerless Flats (1993)
  • Gaglow (1997)
  • The Wild (2000)
  • The Sea House (2003)
  • Love Falls (2007)
  • Lucky Break (2010)
  • Mr Mac and Me (2014)
  • I Couldn't Love You More (2021)

Short fiction

Stories
Title Year First published Reprinted/collected Notes
Desire 2021 Freud, Esther (27 September 2021). "Desire". The New Yorker. 97 (30): 72–78.

See also

References

  1. ^ Alice O'Keeffe (31 August 2014). "Esther Freud: 'I realised the book I'd been writing for 18 months was awful'". The Guardian.
  2. ^ Freud, Esther (4 April 2009). "I was an alien in Dr Who". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 16 June 2011. Retrieved 4 April 2009.
  3. ^ a b c British Council. "Esther Freud - British Council Literature". britishcouncil.org. Archived from the original on 3 November 2011. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  4. ^ Oxfam: Ox-Tales Archived 20 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ "Celebrity couple tie the knot in Suffolk". 14 August 2006.
  6. ^ Preston, Alex (29 May 2021). "Esther Freud: 'I didn't learn to read till I was about 10'". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  7. ^ "Interview: Esther Freud". The JC. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  8. ^ "The NS Interview: Bella Freud, designer and campaigner". The New Statesman. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  9. ^ "Bernardine Freud obituary". The Guardian. August 2011. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
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