Nell Dunn

Nell Mary Dunn (born 9 June 1936) is an English playwright, screenwriter and author. She is known especially for a volume of short stories, "Up the Junction", and a novel, "Poor Cow".
Early years.
The second daughter of Sir Philip Dunn and maternal granddaughter of the 5th Earl of Rosslyn – the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo – Dunn was born in London and educated at a convent up to the age of 14. She and her older sister Selina were evacuated to America in the war. Her parents divorced in 1944.
Her father did not believe his daughters needed qualifications. As a result she has never passed an exam in her life. She only learnt to read at nine years old. Dunn said, "Whenever my father saw my appalling spelling, he would laugh. But it wasn't an unkind laugh. In his laugh there was the message, 'You are a completely original person, and everything you do has your own mark on it.' He wanted us all to be unique." 
Despite her upper-class background, Dunn moved in 1959 to Battersea, made friends there and worked for a time in a sweet factory. This milieu inspired much of what Dunn would later write. She attended the Courtauld Institute of Art.
Career.
Dunn came to notice with the publication of "Up the Junction" (1963), a series of short stories set in South London, some of which had already appeared in the "New Statesman". The book, awarded the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, was a controversial success at the time for its vibrant, realistic and non-judgemental portrait of its working-class protagonists. It was adapted for television by Dunn, with Ken Loach, for "The Wednesday Play" series, directed by Loach and broadcast in November 1965. A cinema film version was released in 1968.
"Talking to Women" (1965) was a collection of interviews with nine friends, "from society heiresses to factory workers (Dunn herself was both)". The interviewees included Edna O’Brien, Pauline Boty, Ann Quin and Paddy Kitchen. Dunn's first novel, "Poor Cow" (1967) achieved success through scandal. The book was made into a film starring Carol White and Terence Stamp, under Loach's direction.
Her later books are "Grandmothers" (1991) and "My Silver Shoes" (1996). Dunn's first play "Steaming" was produced in 1981 and a television film "Every Breath You Take" in 1987. She also wrote "Sisters", a film script commissioned by the BBC.
She won the 1982 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for her play "Steaming".
Personal life.
Dunn was married to writer Jeremy Sandford from 1957 to 1979. The couple had three sons. She became a Patron of Dignity in Dying after her partner, Dan Oestreicher, died of lung cancer.