We are Michael Field
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In this profile, Emma Donoghue tells the story of two eccentric Victorian spinsters: Katherine Bradley (1846-1914) and her niece Edith Cooper (1862-1913); poets and lovers, who wrote together under the name of Michael Field.
They wrote eleven volumes of poetry and thirty historical tragedies, but perhaps their best work – richest in emotional honesty and wit – was the diary that the two women shared for a quarter of a century, and these unpublished journals and letters form the basis for the groundbreaking We are Michael Field.
The Michaels lived in a contradictory world of inherited wealth and terrible illness, silly nicknames and religious crises. They preferred men to women, and yet their greatest devotion was saved for their dog. Snobbish, arrogant eccentrics who faced bereavement and death with great courage, the Michaels never lost their appetite for life or their passion for each other.
Emma Donoghue
Born in Dublin in 1969, and now living in Canada, Emma Donoghue writes fiction (novels and short stories, contemporary and historical), as well as drama for screen and stage. Room was shortlisted for the Booker, Commonwealth and Orange Prizes, selling nearly three million copies in forty languages. Donoghue was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film adaptation starring Brie Larson. She also co-wrote the film of her novel The Wonder, starring Florence Pugh, as well as H Is for Hawk, from the memoir by Helen Macdonald. Her plays include adaptations of her novels Room and The Pull of the Stars, and a folk musical, The Wind Coming Over the Sea., Born in Dublin in 1969, and now living in Canada, Emma Donoghue writes fiction (novels and short stories, contemporary and historical), as well as drama for screen and stage. Room was shortlisted for the Booker, Commonwealth and Orange Prizes, selling nearly three million copies in forty languages. Donoghue was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film adaptation starring Brie Larson. She also co-wrote the film of her novel The Wonder, starring Florence Pugh, as well as H Is for Hawk, from the memoir by Helen Macdonald. Her plays include adaptations of her novels Room and The Pull of the Stars, and a folk musical, The Wind Coming Over the Sea.
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