Pauline Ashwell

Pauline Ashwell was the pen name of Pauline Whitby, a British science fiction author born in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, on January 25, 1926. Reliable genre references agree that she also wrote as Paul Ash, and that her pen names were drawn from nearby Ashwell, Hertfordshire.

She started early: The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction notes that she was writing science fiction as a teenager, with "Invasion from Venus" appearing in Yankee Science Fiction in July 1942. Her first book was the children's fantasy Little Red Steamer in 1941, and later works included stories such as Big Sword and the novel Unwillingly to Earth.

Her career was not huge in volume, but it left a clear mark in classic British SF circles. She was listed as a 1959 Hugo finalist for Best New Author, and bibliographic sources record work appearing from the 1940s through later decades. She died on November 23, 2015.