Esther Freud


Esther Freud is a British novelist.

Early life and training

Born in London, Freud is the daughter of Bernardine Coverley and painter Lucian Freud. She is also a great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud and niece of Clement Freud. She travelled extensively with her mother as a child, returning to London at 16 to train as an actress at The Drama Centre.

Career

She has worked in television and theatre as both actress and writer. Her first credited television appearance was as a terrified diner in The Bill in 1984, running frantically out of a Chinese restaurant after it had received a bomb scare. A year later she appeared as an alien in the Doctor Who serial Attack of the Cybermen. Her novels include the semi-autobiographical Hideous Kinky, which was adapted into a film starring Kate Winslet.
She is also the author of The Wild, Gaglow, and The Sea House. She also wrote the foreword for The Summer Book by Tove Jansson.
Freud was named as one of the 20 "Best of Young British Novelists" by Granta magazine in 1993. Her novels have been translated into 13 languages. She is also the co-founder of the women's theatre company Norfolk Broads.
In 2009, she donated the short story Rice Cakes and Starbucks to Oxfam's 'Ox-Tales' project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. Her story was published in the 'Water' collection. As of 2014 Freud taught at the Faber Academy.

Personal life

Freud has a sister, fashion designer Bella Freud, and a half-brother, Noah Woodman. Her uncle was the late politician Sir Clement Freud. She has two cousins in the media industry; public relations executive Matthew and broadcaster Emma.
She is married to actor David Morrissey, with whom she has three children, and maintains homes in London and Walberswick near Southwold in Suffolk.

Works