Sally Belfrage
American journalist
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sally Belfrage (October 4, 1936 – March 14, 1994) was a United States-born British-based 20th century non-fiction writer and international journalist.[1][2] Her writing covered The Troubles in Northern Ireland, the American Civil Rights Movement and her memoirs.[1] According to her obituary in The New York Times, she was 'an intelligent and humorous journalist and critic who ardently searched for the truth'.[3]
Life and work
Sally Mary Caroline Belfrage was born in Hollywood, California, on 4 October 1936.[2] Her parents, Cedric Belfrage and Molly Castle, later moved to New York where she studied at the Bronx High School of Science and Hunter College.[2] She returned to England when her parents were deported to London as alleged Communists.[1][2] After her return she matriculated at the London School of Economics.[1][2] After graduating she attended the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow, visited to China[4] and worked for the Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, in 1957.[2]
Belfrage became a social activist and world traveller.[1] Her books include The Crack: A Belfast Year (1987, retitled Living with War: A Belfast Year for United States distribution),[5] Un-American Activities: A Memoir of the Fifties (1995),[6] Freedom Summer (1999),[7] A Room in Moscow (1958),[8] and Flowers of Emptiness: Reflections on an Ashram.[3] In 1969, Belfrage signed a war tax resistance vow, along with 447 other American writers and editors. It was published in the January 30, 1969 edition of the New York Post.[1]
Death
Belfrage lived most of her life in London, where she died at Middlesex Hospital from lung cancer (adenocarcinoma) in 1994, at age 57.[2][9]
Personal life
Marriage and family
In 1965, she married Bernard Pomerance who was best known for his play, The Elephant Man.[10] They had two children: Eve Pomerance, a casting director, screenwriter and producer in Hollywood, and Moby Pomerance, a playwright and screenwriter.[1][11][12]
Belfrage's brother was Nicolas Belfrage, a Master of Wine and wine critic.[13] Her uncle was Bruce Belfrage, a BBC newsreader during World War II, and her great-uncle was Bryan Powley, an actor.[14]