A plaque to remember writer Dorothy Whipple

Aim

A plaque to acknowledge Dorothy Whipple’s literary achievement and her link to Nottingham, a UNESCO City of Literature.

Dorothy Whipple was born in 1893 in Blackburn but much of her life was spent in Nottingham.

It was from the house on Ebers Road in Carrington that her first published novel, Young Anne, was written. She also wrote from a rented cottage at Newstead; the Abbey there inspiring her novel, The Priory. By the time she left Ebers Road in 1939, six more novels had been published. She described those 13 years as the fullest of her life.

JB Priestly called Dorothy the ‘Jane Austen of the twentieth century’ and her books were hugely successful in the inter-war years, with two of them being made into full length films; They Knew Mr Knight, and They Were Sisters. She wrote about ordinary lives, with subtly feminist themes of women striving for independence (often unsuccessfully). 

Although her writing went out of fashion after her death - she is described as one of Britain's 'forgotten writers' - in recent years there has been a resurgence and appreciation of her work, due largely to Persephone Books republishing all her novels in their wonderful editions.

Dorothy Whipple’s contribution to literature should be recognised and honoured in the city where she achieved so much success so this modest crowdfunder aims to raise funds for a commemorative plaque on her house at Ebers Road which we plan to unveil in the early autumn of 2020.

This project successfully funded on 2nd April 2020