Michelene Wandor

Michelene Wandor is an English playwright, poet, critic, and historian who graduated with a BA in English from Newnham College, Cambridge in 1962, followed by a Master's degree in the Sociology of Literature from the University of Essex in 1976 and an MMus from London University/Trinity College of Music. Born to early 20th-century Russian-Jewish émigrés Abraham Samuels and Rosalia Wander, her work is heavily informed by her Jewish cultural heritage and lifelong feminist activism. She served as the poetry editor and lead theatre critic for Time Out magazine from 1971 to 1982 and was a foundational figure in the UK Women's Liberation Movement, editing its first essay collection The Body Politic in 1972. In 1987, she became the first woman playwright to have a full-length drama staged on the National Theatre's Lyttelton stage with her adaptation of The Wandering Jew, and won an International Emmy Award the same year for her television screenplay The Belle of Amherst. She is widely anthologized as the premier historian of post-1970s British feminist theatre, alongside maintaining a parallel career as an early music performer with her ensemble, Siena.