List of Books by Joanna Richardson. See all books authored by Joanna Richardson
About Joanna Richardson
Joanna Leah Richardson (8 August 1925 – 7 March 2008) was an English writer, translator and journalist. She wrote 21 biographies of literary writers and poets and was awarded the Prix Goncourt de la Biographie in 1989. Richardson also contributed to various newspapers and magazines.
Richardson was born on 8 August 1925 at 36 West Heath Drive in Golders Green, London NW11.[She was the daughter of Charlotte Elsa Benjamin with whom she established a close relationship because of her strong-artistic mind. Her father Frederick Richardson, was a Captain in the Intelligence Corps during the Second World War and became fluent in Italian by working with prisoners of war in the country.[2][3] Richardson was of Jewish descent.[1] She had one brother, Martin, who was a widely commended architect.[4] Richardson was brought up in Hampstead Garden Suburb.[2] She was educated at the Downs School in Seaford, Sussex which was evacuated to St Ives, Cornwall during the Second World War's early phase.[4]
Richardson was unhappy during her school years at Downs School, but gained a university place to read Modern Languages at St Anne's College, Oxford. Despite her degree going poorly, she studied for a Bachelor of Letters degree and later an unsuccessful doctorate under literary critic Dr Enid Starkie. Nevertheless, Starkie's influence possibly helped Richardson gain re-admittance into St. Anne's College as an "advance student" and worked as the critic's research assistant on her biography of the poet Charles Baudelaire which was published in 1957.