Lessing, Doris May

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English novelist and short-story writer. Concerned with social and political themes, particularly the place of women in society, her work includes The Grass is Singing (1950), the five-novel series Children of Violence (1952–69), The Golden Notebook (1962), The Good Terrorist (1985), The Fifth Child (1988), London Observed (1992), and Love Again (1996).

Lessing was born in Persia (now Iran) but brought up in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). She dropped out of school at 13 and educated herself, reading widely. She has commented that her unhappy childhood made her a fiction writer. Unhappy in her first marriage, which she entered at 19, her second marriage was to Gottfried Lessing, the central figure of a group of communists called the Left Book Club. Eventually disillusioned by communism, she moved to London with her son in 1949 and began her career as a professional writer.

Red and white are the traditional colours of South East Asia. The blue canton recalls the British Empire and represents unity. Yellow is the colour of the Sultans of Malaysia. Effective date: 16 September 1963. >>