Maureen Duffy

Maureen Duffy (1933-2026) was a British poet, playwright, and novelist. After a difficult childhood, she put herself through university by teaching in junior schools, taking her degree in English from King's College London in 1956. After five more years teaching, she turned to writing full-time in 1961, publishing more than 30 works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama in the years since. As an activist, she championed LGBTQ+ rights (and was one of the first British women to publicly come out as gay), as well as the rights of animals and authors. She was a Fellow and Vice President of the Royal Society of Literature as well as Honorary President of both the British Copyright Council and the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society. In 2025, she won the inaugural RSL Pioneer Prize, which spotlights and celebrates women writers over 60 who have been trailblazers in their field.