Rubens, Bernice (1928–2004)
Rubens, Bernice (1928–2004)
Welsh novelist and short-story writer. Born Bernice Ruth Rubens, July 26, 1928, in Cardiff, Wales; died Oct 13, 2004; dau. of Eli Rubens and Dorothy Cohen; attended University of Wales; m. Rudi Nassbauer (wine merchant), 1947 (div., died 1997); children: Sharon and Rebecca.
Taught English; traveled widely making documentary films for organizations, including the UN, and won American Blue Ribbon for documentary film Stress (1968); began writing at age 30; won Booker Prize for novel The Elected Member (1970), pub. in US as Chosen People, and was Booker runner-up for A Five Year Sentence (1978); saw 2 of her novels filmed: Madame Sousatzka (1962), with Shirley MacLaine, and I Sent a Letter to My Love (1975), with Simone Signoret; her Mr. Wakefield's Crusade became a BBC-TV miniseries; also wrote Set on Edge (1960), Go Tell the Lemming (1973), The Ponsonby Post (1977), Spring Sonata (1979), Brothers (1983), Our Father (1987), Kingdom Come (1990), Mother Russia (1992), The Waiting Game (1997), I, Dreyfus (1999), Nine Lives (2002), and The Sergeant's Tale (2003), among others.