Jennifer Dawson

Jennifer Dawson (1929–2000) studied at Oxford, where she suffered a breakdown and spent several months in a hospital. After graduating in 1954, Dawson worked as a teacher in a convent in France, a welfare worker in London’s East End, and a social worker in a psychiatric hospital. Her experience both as a mental health professional and patient formed the basis for The Ha-Ha, which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was adapted for the stage and broadcast by the BBC. Over her lifetime, Dawson wrote six more novels, a collection of short stories, and coauthored a children’s book.