19 Facts About Katharine Burdekin

Katharine Penelope Burdekin was a British novelist who wrote speculative fiction concerned with social and spiritual matters.

Katharine Burdekin was the younger sister of Rowena Cade, creator of the Minack Theatre in Cornwall.

Katharine Burdekin wrote under the name Kay Burdekin and under the pseudonym Murray Constantine.

Katharine Penelope Burdekin was born in Spondon, Derbyshire in 1896, the youngest of Charles Cade's four children.

Katharine Burdekin's family had lived in Derby for many years and their ancestors include Joseph Wright of Derby.

Katharine Burdekin was educated by a governess at their home, The Homestead, and later at Cheltenham Ladies' College.

Katharine Burdekin married Olympic rower and barrister Beaufort Burdekin in 1915.

Katharine Burdekin's family moved to Australia, where Katharine started writing.

Katharine Burdekin's marriage ended in the same year, and she moved to Minack Head to join her sister.

Katharine Burdekin's partner describes how Burdekin's wide-ranging reading would precede a period of quiet for a few days.

Katharine Burdekin didn't appear to plan her books, and each book was completed within six weeks.

Katharine Burdekin allegedly adopted the pseudonym to protect her family from the risk of repercussions and attacks for her novel's political nature and strong criticism of fascism.

In Proud Man Katharine Burdekin uses the arrival of a hermaphrodite visitor from the future to criticise 1930s gender roles.

Katharine Burdekin published her best-known novel, Swastika Night, as Murray Constantine.

Katharine Burdekin anticipated the Holocaust and understood the dangers presented by a militarised Japan while most people in her society were still supporting a policy of appeasement.

Katharine Burdekin wrote six further novels after World War II, none of which were published in her lifetime.

Katharine Burdekin's unpublished manuscript, The End of This Day's Business, was published by The Feminist Press in New York in 1989; it is a counterpart to Swastika Night and envisions a distant future in which women rule and men are deprived of all power.

Katharine Burdekin wrote several children's books, including The Children's Country about a boy and girl who enter a magical world where children are more powerful than adults.

Patai discovered that Katharine Burdekin wrote Swastika Night and other feminist speculative fiction in the 1930s that was published under the pseudonym of Murray Constantine.