author
Bessie Hatton
A lively late-Victorian writer who moved easily between fiction, journalism, and the stage, she also helped turn literary talent into political action. Her work sits at the meeting point of storytelling, theater, and the fight for women's suffrage.
1 Audiobook
The Village of Youth, and Other Fairy Tales
by Bessie Hatton
About the author
Born in Worcestershire in 1867, Bessie Lyle Hatton was an English actress, playwright, journalist, and author. She was the daughter of novelist and journalist Joseph Hatton, and after a brief time on the stage she built a literary career of her own.
Hatton wrote fiction as well as drama, and her books include The Village of Youth, and Other Fairy Tales, which is available through Project Gutenberg. She is also remembered for her journalism and for the range of her work across performance and print, a mix that gives her writing a vivid, public-facing energy.
Beyond her literary career, she played an important role in the campaign for women's voting rights in Britain. Along with Cicely Hamilton, she helped found the Women Writers' Suffrage League, bringing writers together in support of the suffrage movement. She died in 1964, leaving behind a body of work tied closely to the cultural and political life of her time.