Tributes are flowing from across the world in honour of the writer, who came up against gender politics and became an icon of her time. Tackling race and ideology including communism, Lessing was known for her non-conformist attitudes, which were ground breaking at the time and continue to inspire people today.
The changes that have taken place in the world over the space of Lessing’s more than nine decades on this planet are evident in the names of her early homes. Born in Iran (then Persia) in 1919 to British parents, Lessing moved to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) at the age of 6 where her family farmed maize. She was educated at the Dominican Convent High School until the age of 14 in Salisbury (now Harare) and left home at 15 to work as a nursemaid. This is when she began writing and first sold stories to magazines in South Africa, inspired by reading political and sociological material that her employer gave her.
