22 Facts About Marina Warner

Dame Marina Sarah Warner was born on 9 November 1946 and is an English historian, mythographer, art critic, novelist and short story writer.

Marina Warner is known for her many non-fiction books relating to feminism and myth.

Marina Warner has written for many publications, including The London Review of Books, the New Statesman, Sunday Times, and Vogue.

Marina Warner has been a visiting professor, given lectures and taught on the faculties of many universities.

Marina Warner resigned from her position as professor in the Department of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies at the University of Essex in 2014, sharply criticising moves towards "for-profit business model" universities in the UK, and is Professor of English and Creative Writing at Birkbeck, University of London.

Marina Warner has been a Distinguished Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, since 2019.

In 2015, having received the prestigious Holberg Prize, Warner decided to use the award to start the Stories in Transit project, a series of workshops bringing international artists, writers and other creatives together with young migrants living in Palermo, Sicily.

Marina Warner was born in London to an English father, Esmond Warner, and Ilia, an Italian whom he had met during the Second World War in Bari, Apulia.

Marina Warner has one sister, Laura Gascoigne, who is an art critic.

Marina Warner was brought up initially in Cairo, where her father ran a bookshop, until it was set on fire during attacks on foreign businesses in January 1952, a precursor to the Egyptian revolution.

The family then moved to Brussels and to Cambridge and Berkshire, England, where Marina Warner studied at St Mary's School, Ascot.

Marina Warner studied French and Italian at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.

Marina Warner was married to the painter Johnny Dewe Mathews from 1981 to 1997.

Marina Warner began her career as a staff writer for The Daily Telegraph, before working as Vogue's features editor from 1969 until 1972.

Marina Warner was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1984.

Marina Warner was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2008 Queen's Birthday Honours for services to literature.

Marina Warner was a professor in the Department of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies at the University of Essex from 2004 until her resignation in 2014.

Marina Warner took up a chair in English and Creative Writing at Birkbeck College, University of London, in September 2014.

Marina Warner is a quondam fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and was chair of the judges of the Man Booker International Prize 2015.

Marina Warner was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to higher education and literary scholarship.

In 2019, Marina Warner chaired the judges of the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature.

Marina Warner was appointed Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in the 2022 Birthday Honours for services to the humanities.