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divdiv class=story-body readability=38 span class=story-date#13; span class=date17 November 2013/span#13;span class=time-textLast updated at /spanspan class=time10:32 ET/span#13; #13;/span#13;#13; #13;#13;#13; #13; #13; !-- Embedding the video player --#13;!-- This is the embedded player component --#13;#13;#13; #13; #13;#13;#13;#13;!-- wwrights check --#13;!-- Empty country is used on test environment --#13;#13;#13;#13;div class=videoInStoryB readability=1#13; div id=emp-24980151-44138 class=emp#13; #13; #13; noscript#13; div class=warning readability=1#13; img class=holding src=http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71167000/jpg/_71167309_71167308.jpg alt=Doris Lessing/pstrongPlease turn on JavaScript./strong Media requires JavaScript to play./p#13; /div#13; /noscript#13; #13; !-- embedding script --#13; #13; /div#13; !-- companion banner -- #13; #13; #13; #13; !-- END - companion banner --!-- caption --p class=captionNick Higham looks back at the life of novelist Doris Lessing/p#13; !-- END - caption --#13; #13; #13;#13;/div#13;!-- end of the embedded player component --#13;#13;!-- Player embedded -- #13; p class=introduction id=story_continues_1British Nobel Prize-winning author Doris Lessing has died aged 94./p#13; pA statement from her publisher, Harper Collins, said she passed away peacefully at her London home in the early hours of this morning./p#13; pHer best-known works include The Golden Notebook, Memoirs of a Survivor and The Summer Before the Dark./p#13; pShe became the oldest winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature when in 2007 she won the award for her life's work aged 88./p#13; pJonathan Clowes, her long-time friend and agent, said she was a wonderful writer with a fascinating and original mind./p#13; div class=story-feature narrow#13; a class=hidden href=#story_continues_2Continue reading the main story/a h2 class=quote“spanStart Quote/span/h2#13;blockquote readability=1p class=first-childA compelling storyteller with a fierce intellect and a warm heart”/p/blockquote#13;span class=endquoteEnd Quote/span#13; span class=quote-creditCharlie Redmayne/span#13; span class=quote-credit-titleHarper Collins UK/span#13;#13; /div p id=story_continues_2It was a privilege to work for her and we shall miss her immensely./p#13; pDoris Lessing was a one of the great writers of our age, said Charlie Redmayne, CEO of Harper Collins UK./p#13; pShe was a compelling storyteller with a fierce intellect and a warm heart who was not afraid to fight for what she believed in./p#13; pThe author is survived by her daughter Jean and granddaughters Anna and Susannah/p#13; pBorn in what is now Iran, she moved to Southern Rhodesia - now Zimbabwe - as a child before settling in England in 1949./p#13; pHer debut novel The Grass is Singing was published in 1950 and she made her breakthrough with The Golden Notebook in 1962./p#13; pOn winning the Nobel Prize, the Swedish Academy described Lessing as an epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny./p#13; #13; pAfter learning she had won the award, she said she was very glad but recalled that in the 1960s she had been told the Nobel Prize committee did not like her and she would never win one./p#13; pSo now they've decided they're going to give it to me. So why? I mean, why do they like me any better now than they did then? she said./p#13; pThe Swedish Academy said the Golden Notebook was seen as a pioneering work that belongs to the handful of books that informed the 20th Century view of the male-female relationship./p#13; pAs an author, though, Lessing distanced herself from the feminist movement./p#13; pThe content of her other novels ranged from semi-autobiographical African experiences to social and political struggle, psychological thrillers and science fiction./p#13; pShe had two children with her first husband, Frank Wisdom, whom she married in 1939. But she left the family home and the couple divorced in 1943./p#13; pShe then married and had a son with the German communist Gottfried Lessing in 1945. /p#13; pThey divorced in 1949 and she moved to England with her son Peter./p#13; div class=comment-introduction readability=-49#13; p class=introductionWhat are your memories of Doris Lessing? You can send your comments using the form below. /p#13; #13;/div#13; #13; #13; #13; #13; /div/divbrbrcentera href=http://www.wizardrss.comPowered By WizardRSS.com/a | a href=http://www.wizardrss.comFull Text RSS Feed/a | a href=http://www.amazon.com/RFID-Blocking-Cards-Identity-Protector/dp/B00CJHZLEWRFID/a | a href=http://www.wpzonbuilder.comAmazon Affiliate/a/center