Hello I'm Krestey Young and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive.

For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music.

The program was originally broadcast in 1993 and the presenter was Sue Lolly. My castaway this week is a writer. She published her first novel The Grass

is singing in 1950 having brought the manuscript with her to London from

Southern Rhodesia. It was there she'd been brought up, married and divorced and from where she was

eventually exiled because of what the authorities called her

subversive activities. Altogether she's published about 30 books, novels,

essays and short stories and to some critics she is

quite simply Britain's greatest living writer. She's embraced many themes in

1962 the Golden Notebook was greeted despite her protestations as a battle cry for women's liberation.

In 88, the Good Terrorist won the W.H. Smith Award and was shortlisted for the Booker.

Now 74, she lives alone in North London and has she says

about three books left in her. She is Doris Lessing. What are the three books?

You've just finished a volume of autobiography?

That's volume one, but I don't see how there can ever be a volume two because, well I just invite

you to consider it, the number of people I have known who are all still alive.

Now the book I just finished everyone is dead or they don't care so it was easy.

You don't believe in dishing the dirt?

No I absolutely do not. I suppose the other reason for writing your autobiography is that if you don't

other people will write your biography and as long as you're still around and able to

write it yourself it must be very annoying if they want to do that. Well there is a young woman writing one now I try to stop her but

I've given up I thought okay if you can't beat them join them so that's why I'm writing it.

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