Burdekin, Katharine (1896–1963)

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Burdekin, Katharine (1896–1963)

British science-fiction writer. Name variations: Kay Burdekin; (pseudonym) Murray Constantine. Born Katherine Penelope Cade, July 23, 1896, in Derbyshire, England; died Aug 10, 1963, in Suffolk, England; dau. of Charles James Cade and Mary Casterton Cade; m. Beaufort Burdekin, 1915; children: 2.

Went to Sydney with husband (1915) but returned to London (1922) and later set up home with a female companion; though she wrote realist fiction, is best known as a science-fiction writer; published Swastika Night (1937), her most widely read novel, which anticipated Orwell's 1984; other works include Quiet Ways (1930), Proud Man (1934), Venus in Scorpio (1940) and The End of This Day's Business (1989).

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