Editing Sue Townsend

{{Short description|English writer and humorist (1946–2014)}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Infobox writer
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FRSL}}
| image        = Sue Townsend.jpg
| caption      = Townsend in 2010
| pseudonym    = 
| birth_name   = Susan Lillian Johnstone
| birth_date   = {{Birth date|df=yes|1946|4|2}}<ref name="Kellaway14" />
| birth_place  = [[Leicester]], England
| death_date   = {{death date and age|df=yes|2014|04|10|1946|4|2}}
| death_place  = Leicester, England
| occupation   = {{cslist|Novelist|playwright|screenwriter|columnist}}
| genre        = {{cslist|Drama|fiction|screenplay}}
| notableworks = {{cslist|[[Adrian Mole]] (books)|''Captain Christmas and the Evil Adults'' (play)}}
| website      = 
| signature    = 
| spouse       = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Keith Townsend|1964|1971|end = divorced}}
* {{marriage|Colin Broadway|1986}}
}}
| children     = 4
}}
'''Susan Lillian Townsend''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FRSL}} ({{née|'''Johnstone'''}}; 2 April 1946{{spaced ndash}}10 April 2014) was an English writer and humorist whose work encompasses novels, plays and works of journalism. She was best known for creating the character [[Adrian Mole]].

After writing in secret from the age of 14, Townsend first became known for her plays, her signature character first appearing in a radio drama, but her work soon expanded into other forms. She enjoyed great success in the 1980s, with her Adrian Mole books selling more copies than any other work of fiction in Britain during the decade. This series, which eventually encompassed nine books, takes the form of the character's diaries. The earliest books recount the life of a teenage boy during the [[Thatcher years]], but the sequence eventually depicts Adrian Mole in middle age.

''[[The Queen and I (novel)|The Queen and I]]'' (1992), another popular work which was well received, was an outlet for her republican sentiments, although the [[British royal family|Royal Family]] is still rendered with sympathy. Both the earliest Adrian Mole book and ''The Queen and I'' were adapted for the stage and enjoyed successful runs in London's [[West End theatre|West End]].

Townsend was poor until well into her thirties and used her experiences of hardship in her work. In her later years, she experienced ill health, in part related to the [[diabetes]] she developed in the mid-1980s, and in her last years endured serious sight and mobility problems.

==Early life==
Townsend was born at the Maternity Hospital in Causeway Lane, [[Leicester]], the oldest of three sisters.<ref name="Williamson"/><ref name="Kellaway14"/> Her father had worked at a factory making [[jet engine]]s before becoming a [[postman]], while her mother worked in a factory canteen.<ref name="Telegraphobit">[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10759737/Sue-Townsend-obituary.html Obituary: Sue Townsend], ''Daily Telegraph'', 11 April 2014</ref> She attended Glen Hills Primary School, where the school secretary was Mrs Claricotes, a name she used for the school secretary in the Adrian Mole books.

At the age of eight, Townsend contracted [[mumps]], and was obliged to stay at home. Her mother bought a collection of [[Richmal Crompton]]'s [[Just William (book series)|Just William]] books at a [[jumble sale]] which Townsend read avidly. Later, she said the William Brown character was an influence on her best-known creation.<ref name="Williamson">Marcus Williamson [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/sue-townsend-obituary-author-whose-hapless-brilliantly-drawn-teenage-hero-adrian-mole-made-her-the-bestselling-author-of-the-1980s-9255161.html "Sue Townsend obituary: Author whose hapless, brilliantly drawn teenage hero, Adrian Mole, made her the best selling author of the 1980s"], ''The Independent'', 11 April 2014</ref>

After failing her [[eleven plus exam|11-plus exam]], Townsend went to the secondary modern [[South Wigston High School]].<ref>
{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.bbc.co.uk/leicester/content/articles/2005/02/18/internationalwomensday_feature.shtml
 |title       = Leicester's leading ladies
 |publisher   = BBC
 |date        = 18 February 2005
|access-date  = 1 February 2008
|last        = Collier
 |first       = Kate
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20060203222808/http://www.bbc.co.uk/leicester/content/articles/2005/02/18/internationalwomensday_feature.shtml
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|df          = dmy-all
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</ref> During her childhood, while up a tree playing with her peers, she witnessed the murder of a fellow schoolgirl, but the children were not believed.<ref name="Donald">Ann Donald [http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/to-meet-one-of-life-s-naturals-1.265883 "To meet one of life's naturals"], ''The Herald'', 23 October 1999</ref> The murder was committed by Joseph Christopher Reynolds (31), convicted at Leicester Assizes for the murder of Janet Warner, and hanged by Albert Pierrepoint on 17 November 1953. It was to be the last execution carried out at [[HM Prison Leicester|Leicester Prison]].

==Marriage and pre-writing career==
Townsend left school at the age of fourteen and worked in a variety of jobs including packer for [[Birds Eye]], a petrol station attendant and a receptionist.<ref>Iain Hollingshead [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/9106881/Sue-Townsend-the-difficult-years.html "Sue Townsend: the difficult years"], ''Daily Telegraph'', 27 February 2012</ref> Working at a petrol station allowed her the chance to read between serving customers.<ref name="Ind1992">[https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/interview--secret-passions-of-a-republican-mole-sue-townsend-explains-why-she-killed-off-the-queen-mother-in-a-council-house-1548632.html "Interview: Secret passions of a republican mole: Sue Townsend explains why she killed off the Queen Mother in a council house"], ''The Independent'', 1 September 1992</ref>

She married Keith Townsend, a [[sheet metal]] worker on 25 April 1964; the couple had three children under five by the time Townsend was 23 (Sean, Daniel, and Victoria). In 1971 the marriage ended and she became a single parent.<ref>Susan Mansfield [http://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-sue-townsend-author-1-3373846 "Obituary: Sue Townsend, author"], ''The Scotsman'', 12 April 2014</ref> In this position, Townsend and her children endured considerable hardship. In ''Mr Bevan's Dream: Why Britain Needs Its Welfare State'' (1989), a short book in the ''Counterblasts'' series, she recounts an experience from when her eldest child was five. Because the [[Department of Social Security]] was unable to give her even 50p to tide them over, she was obliged to feed herself and her children on a tin of peas and an Oxo cube as an evening meal. Townsend would collect used [[Corona (soft drink)|Corona]] bottles, to redeem the 4p return fee by which to feed her children.<ref>Sue Townsend [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/13/adrian-mole-sue-townsend-welfare "Sue Townsend: how the welfare state left me and my kids scouring the streets for pennies"], ''The Observer'', 13 April 2014. Extract from ''Mr Bevan's Dream'', first published in ''The Observer'' in 1989.</ref>

Aged thirteen, her son questioned one Sunday why they did not go to animal parks on weekends like other families. She later recounted that it was the start of her writing which became the Adrian Mole books, looking at life through the clinical eyes of a teenager but in a comedic manner. Townsend then chose to research the world of teenagers and started attending youth clubs as a volunteer organiser. This led to her training as a youth worker.

While employed as a supervisor at an adventure playground, she observed a man making [[canoe]]s nearby and, because he was married, put off talking to him; it was a year before he asked her for a date.<ref name="Ind1992"/> It was at a canoeing course she met her future second husband, Colin Broadway, who was the father of her fourth child, Elizabeth.<ref name="Kellaway14">Kate Kellaway [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/11/sue-townsend-1946-2014 Obituary: Sue Townsend], ''The Guardian'', 11 April 2014</ref>

Townsend and Broadway married on 13 June 1986.

==Transition to a writing career==
Townsend's new partner<!-- In the context, referring to him as Broadway would be unfortunate. --> encouraged her to join a writers' group at the [[Upper Brown Street|Phoenix Theatre, Leicester]], in 1978, when she was in her early thirties. Initially too shy to speak, she did not write anything for six weeks, but was then given a fortnight to write a play. This became the thirty-minute drama ''Womberang'' (1979), set in the waiting room of a [[gynaecology]] department.<ref name="Webber">Richard Webber [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/fameandfortune/9365026/Adrian-Mole-author-Sue-Townsend-talks-money.html "Adrian Mole author Sue Townsend talks money"], ''Sunday Telegraph'', 1 July 2012</ref> At the Phoenix, she became the [[writer-in-residence]].<ref name="Donald"/>

During this time she was mentored by several theatre directors including Ian Giles and principally Sue Pomeroy who commissioned and directed a number of her plays including ''Womberang'', ''Dayroom'', ''Groping for Words'' and subsequently ''Ear, Nose and Throat''. She was also introduced to [[William Ash (writer)|William Ash]], then chairman of the Soho Poly (now [[Soho Theatre]]), who likewise played a significant part in shaping her early career. She met writer-director [[Carole Hayman]] on the stairs of the Soho Poly theatre and went on to develop many theatre pieces with her for the [[Royal Court Theatre|Royal Court]] and [[Joint Stock Theatre Company|Joint Stock]], including ''Bazarre and Rummage'' and ''The Great Celestial Cow''. They later co-wrote two television series, ''The Refuge'' and ''The Spinney''.<ref>
{{cite web
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 |title       = Sky Arts: The Book Show
 |publisher   = Skyarts.co.uk
 |access-date  = 1 February 2008
|url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20080913050444/http://thebookshow.skyarts.co.uk/authors/5478/sue_townsend.html
 |archive-date = 13 September 2008
|df          = dmy-all
}}
</ref><ref name="thetimes">
{{cite news
|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2101-2399015,00.html
|title=Sue Townsend
|work=The Times
|access-date=1 February 2008
|date=15 October 2006
|last=White
|first=Lesley
|location=London
}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
</ref>

At the time of writing the first Adrian Mole book, Townsend was living on the [[Eyres Monsell]] Estate, near the house in which playwright [[Joe Orton]] was brought up. Mole "came into my head when my eldest son said 'Why don't we go to safari parks like other families do?' That's the only real line of dialogue from my family that's in any of the Mole books. It's in because it triggered it. I remembered that kind of whiny, adolescent self-pity, that 'surely these are not my parents.'"<ref name="Clark1109">Alex Clark [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/nov/07/sue-townsend-interview-alex-clark "'I didn't know what Adrian Mole looked like – well, not until I saw John Major on the telly'"], ''The Guardian'', 7 November 2009</ref>

==Success of Adrian Mole==
The first two published stories appeared in a short-lived arts' journal entitled ''magazine,'' in the editing and production of which Townsend was involved, featuring the character then still called Nigel Mole. Actor [[Nigel Bennett]] had given her help and encouragement to persist with the work and sent the script to [[John Tydeman]], the deputy head of BBC Radio Drama.<ref name="Webber"/> The character first came to national awareness in a single radio play, ''The Diary of Nigel Mole, Aged 13¾'', broadcast by [[BBC Radio 4]] on New Year's Day 1982.<ref name="BBC110415">[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-26986127 "Obituary: Sue Townsend"], BBC News, 11 April 2014</ref>

Someone at the publishers [[Methuen Publishing|Methuen]] heard the broadcast and commissioned Townsend to write the first book, ''The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾'' which came out in September 1982<ref name="Hendy">David Hendy ''Life on Air: A History of Radio Four'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007, p.373</ref> The publisher insisted on the change of name because of the similarity to [[Nigel Molesworth]], the schoolboy character created by [[Ronald Searle]] and [[Geoffrey Willans]].<ref name="Kellaway14"/> A month after the book's appearance it had topped the best seller list and had sold a million copies after a year.<ref name="Telegraphobit"/> Adapted as a play, the stage version premiered in Leicester and ran at [[Wyndham's Theatre]] for more than two years.<ref name="Billington">Michael Billington [https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/apr/11/sue-townsend-plays-adrian-mole-theatre "'Plays poured out of her'"], ''The Guardian'', 11 April 2014</ref> The first two books were seen by many as a realistic and humorous treatment of the inner life of an adolescent boy. They also captured something of the [[zeitgeist]] of Britain during the [[Margaret Thatcher|Thatcher]] era.<ref>{{cite news|last=Lawless|first=Jill|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/sue-townsend-creator-adrian-mole-dies-68-23286238|title=Sue Townsend, Creator of Adrian Mole, Dies at 68|publisher=ABC News | agency=Associated Press|date=11 April 2014|access-date=12 April 2014}}</ref>

''The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole'' (1984) was reputedly based on her children's experiences at [[Mary Linwood Comprehensive School]] in Leicester. Several of the teachers who appear in the book (such as Ms Fossington-Gore and Mr Dock) are based on staff who worked at the school in the early 1980s. When the book was televised, it was mostly filmed at a different school nearby. Mary Linwood Comprehensive was closed in 1997.

These first two books were adapted into [[The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole (TV series)|a television series]], broadcast in 1985 and 1987, and a video game.

==Later life and career==
''[[The Queen and I (novel)|The Queen and I]]'' (1992) is a novel whose plot involves the [[British royal family|Royal Family]] rehoused in a council estate after a Republican revolution. Townsend had become a [[Republicanism in the United Kingdom|republican]] while a child. In an interview for ''The Independent'' published in September 1992 she related that after finding the idea of God a ridiculous idea, an argument in favour of the British monarchy also collapsed. "I was frightened that people believed in it all, the whole package, and I must be the only one with these feelings. It was a moment of revelation, but at the same time it would have been wicked ever to mention it." In addition, she was "being taught about infinity, which I found mind-boggling. It made me feel we were all tiny, tiny specks: and if I was, then they – the Royal Family – were, too."<ref name="Ind1992"/>

Like the first Mole book, ''The Queen and I'' was adapted for the stage with songs by [[Ian Dury]] and Mickey Gallagher. [[Michael Billington (critic)|Michael Billington]] writes that Townsend "was ahead of the game" in treating the royal family as a suitable subject for drama. He writes: "Far from seeming like a piece of republican propaganda, the play actually made the royals endearing."<ref name="Billington"/> A later book in a similar vein, ''[[Queen Camilla (novel)|Queen Camilla]]'' (2006), was less well received.<ref>Alex Clark [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/oct/29/fiction.features "The country's gone to the dogs"], ''The Observer'', 29 October 2006</ref><ref>Tom Payne [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3656788/Its-no-knockout.html "It's no knockout"], ''Sunday Telegraph'', 26 November 2006</ref>

On 25 February 2009, [[Leicester City Council]] announced that Townsend would be given the Honorary Freedom of Leicester (where she lived).<ref name="City honours three of its finest 'ambassadors'">{{cite news| title=City honours three of its finest 'ambassadors' |url=http://www.leicester.gov.uk/newssite/index01.asp?pgid=9104| publisher= Leicester City Council| date=25 February 2009| access-date=26 February 2009}}</ref> Townsend became a [[Royal Society of Literature|Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature]] (FRSL) in 1993.<ref>[https://archive.today/20140412203551/http://www.debretts.com/people-of-today/profile/14702/Susan-(Sue)-TOWNSEND "Susan (Sue) Townsend – Authorised Biography"], Debrett's</ref> Amongst her honours and awards, she received honorary doctorates from the [[University of Leicester]], from [[Loughborough University]] and [[De Montfort University]], Leicester.

In 1991 Townsend appeared on BBC Radio 4's ''[[Desert Island Discs]]''. Her chosen book was ''[[Lucky Jim]]'' by [[Kingsley Amis]] and her luxury item was a [[swimming pool]] of [[Champagne (wine)|champagne]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0093yl0|title=BBC Radio 4 – Desert Island Discs, Sue Townsend|website=BBC|language=en-GB|access-date=29 February 2020}}</ref>

==Political beliefs==

In 1989 Townsend published ''Mr Bevan's Dream – Why Britain Needs its Welfare State'', one of the series of ''Counterblast'' essays written by such authors as [[Paul Foot (journalist)|Paul Foot]], [[Marina Warner]] and [[Fay Weldon]] which critiqued, either directly or indirectly the social consequences of [[Thatcherism]].

She describes being "mesmerised" when seeing [[Aneurin Bevan]], the prime mover of the British [[welfare state]] on television for the first time.<ref>S.Townsend, ''Mr Bevan's Dream – Why Britain needs its Welfare State'', Chatto and Windus, 1989, p.8. {{ISBN|0 7011 3468 2}}</ref> The book consists of a series of short [[anecdotal]] stories which touch on ways in which the welfare and education systems of the day supported or (mostly) failed ordinary citizens. In "The Quick Birth", Townsend recalls the experience of giving birth to her first child, born prematurely but who survived thanks to the dedicated [[National Health Service]] staff at her local hospital in Leicester; "Community Care" deals with the treatment of vulnerable people with mental health issues; "Mr Smith's privatised penis", the final section, is a dystopian satire on a future where pavements, sunlight, fresh air and even lovemaking have been sold off to private enterprise.

"In this pamphlet, I have fallen back on the traditional working-class method for expressing ideas – the anecdote, or what is now called the "oral tradition" (which is only a fancy term for working-class people talking to each other but not bothering to record what they've heard").<ref>''Mr Bevan's Dream'', p.3</ref>

Townsend, in a 2009 ''Guardian'' interview with Alex Clark, described herself as a "passionate socialist" who had no time for [[New Labour]]. "I support the memory and the history of the party and I consider that these lot are interlopers", she told Clark.<ref name="Clark1109"/> Despite these comments, Townsend said in 1999 that she had only voted Labour once, and in fact, her preference was "Communist, Socialist Workers, or a minority party usually."<ref name="Donald"/> The journalist [[Christina Patterson]] observed of Townsend in 2008: "Her heart, it's clear from her books and a few hours in her company, is still with the people she left behind, the people who go largely unchronicled in literature, the people who are still her friends."<ref>Christina Patterson [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/interviews/sue-townsend-i-often-write-about-my-faults-1037793.html "Sue Townsend: 'I often write about my faults'"], ''The Independent'', 28 November 2008</ref>

==Health problems==
Townsend experienced ill health for several years. She was a [[chain smoker]], had [[tuberculosis]] (TB), [[peritonitis]] at 23 and had a [[heart attack]] in her 30s.<ref name="Kellaway14"/> She developed [[diabetes]] in the 1980s.<ref name="BBC1104AMST">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-26982680|title=Adrian Mole author Sue Townsend dies|date=11 April 2014|work=[[BBC News]]|access-date=11 April 2014}}</ref> It was a condition with which she struggled, believing herself to be the "world's worst diabetic".<ref name="Kellaway10">Kate Kellaway [https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2010/aug/01/sue-townsend-kate-kellaway "Sue Townsend: 'I hate it when people call me a national treasure'"], ''The Observer'', 1 August 2010</ref> The condition led to Townsend's being registered blind in 2001,<ref name="thetimes"/> and she wove this theme into her work.

After experiencing kidney failure, she underwent [[Kidney dialysis|dialysis]] and in September 2009 she received a kidney from her elder son Sean, after a two-year wait for a donor.<ref name="Kellaway14"/> She also had degenerative [[arthritis]], which left her reliant on a wheelchair.<ref name="Kellaway14"/> By this time, she was dictating to Sean, who worked as her typist.<ref>Anna Metcalfe [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/4cabf652-6dc3-11e1-b98d-00144feab49a.html#axzz2ycTzZRpj "Small talk: Sue Townsend"], ''Financial Times'', 16 March 2012</ref><ref>Thomas Quinn [http://www.bigissue.com/features/interviews/3752/sue-townsend-interview-i-think-people-are-overloaded-with-information "Sue Townsend interview: "I think people are overloaded with information""], ''The Big Issue'', 11 April 2014, originally published in 2012</ref> Surgery was carried out at [[Leicester General Hospital]] and Townsend spoke to the BBC about her illness on an appeal for National Kidney Day.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/the_daily_politics/8559496.stm|title=Adrian Mole author Sue Townsend's kidney appeal|date=10 March 2010 |publisher=BBC|access-date=12 April 2014}}</ref>

===Death===
Townsend died at her home on 10 April 2014, eight days after her 68th birthday, following a [[stroke]].<ref name="BBC1104AMST"/><ref name="Eady">{{cite news|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/author-sue-townsend-dead-adrian-3399021|title=Adrian Mole author Sue Townsend dies aged 68|last=Eady|first=Piers|date=11 April 2014|work=[[Daily Mirror]]|access-date=11 April 2014}}</ref> [[Stephen Mangan]], who portrayed Adrian Mole in the [[Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years (TV series)|2001 television adaptation]], stated that he was "greatly upset to hear that Sue Townsend has died. One of the warmest, funniest and wisest people I ever met".<ref name="Eady"/> Townsend was survived by her husband, four children and ten grandchildren.<ref name="Thompson">{{cite news|last=Thompson|first=Alan|url=http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Sue-Townsend-secret-writer-best-selling-author/story-20949154-detail/story.html|title=Sue Townsend: The secret writer who became a best-selling author|work=Leicester Mercury|date=11 April 2014|access-date=12 April 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413080444/http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Sue-Townsend-secret-writer-best-selling-author/story-20949154-detail/story.html|archive-date=13 April 2014}}</ref>

==Awards==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Year
! style="text-align:left" | Award
|-
|1981 || [[Thames Television]] Playwright Award for Womberang<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/sue-townsend-dead-adrian-mole-secret-diary-author-dies-aged-68-9253380.html?dkdkd|title=Sue Townsend dead: Adrian Mole 'Secret Diary' author dies at her home, aged 68|website=[[Independent.co.uk]] |date=11 April 2014 |access-date=12 April 2014}}</ref>
|-
|2003 || Frink award<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/2003_41_tue_03.shtml |title=Sue Townsend – Woman of the Year Award |publisher=BBC |date=14 October 2003 |access-date=1 February 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.womenoftheyear.co.uk/woman-of-the-year.htm |title=Women of The Year Lunch and Assembly |website=womenoftheyear.co.uk |access-date=1 February 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071214170209/http://www.womenoftheyear.co.uk/woman-of-the-year.htm |archive-date=14 December 2007 }}</ref>
|-
|2007 || Two honorary doctorates, one from the [[University of Leicester]] and one from [[Loughborough University]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lboro.ac.uk/service/publicity/degree_days/2007/Summer/Townsend.html |title=Summer 2007 Oration – Sue Townsend |date=20 July 2007 |publisher=Loughborough University |access-date=1 February 2008}}</ref>
|-
|2007 || [[James Joyce Award]] of the [[Literary and Historical Society (University College Dublin)|Literary and Historical Society]] of [[University College Dublin]]<ref name="Thompson"/>
|-
|2012 || [[Specsavers National Book Awards]], Audiobook of the Year, ''The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year'' narrated by [[Caroline Quentin]]<ref name=flood2012>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/dec/05/el-james-national-books-award |title=EL James comes out on top at National Book awards |work=[[The Guardian]] |author=Alison Flood |date=5 December 2012 |access-date=5 December 2012}}</ref>
|-
|2013 || honorary doctorate of letters from [[De Montfort University]], Leicester<ref>{{cite web |author=DMU students |url=http://www.dmu.ac.uk/dmu-students/hot-topics/june-2013/summer-graduations-2013.aspx |title=Summer Graduations 2013 |publisher=De Montfort University |date=11 July 2013 |access-date=11 April 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413142634/http://www.dmu.ac.uk/dmu-students/hot-topics/june-2013/summer-graduations-2013.aspx |archive-date=13 April 2014 }}</ref>
|}

==Works==
<!-- {{Library resources box|by=yes|viaf=32834681}} -->

===Adrian Mole series===
* ''[[The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾]]'' (1982), her best-selling book, and the best-selling new British fiction book of the 1980s.
* ''[[The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole]]'' (1984)
* ''[[The True Confessions of Adrian Albert Mole]]'' (1989)
* ''[[Adrian Mole: From Minor to Major]]'' (1991) is an omnibus of the first three, and includes as a bonus the specially written ''Adrian Mole and the Small Amphibians''.
* ''[[Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years]]'' (1993)
* ''[[Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years]]'' (1999)
* ''[[Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction]]'' (2004)
* ''[[The Lost Diaries of Adrian Mole, 1999–2001]]'' (2008)
* ''[[Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years]]'' (2009)

===Other novels===
* ''[[Rebuilding Coventry]]'' (1988)
* ''[[The Queen and I (novel)|The Queen and I]]'' (1992), a story about the [[British royal family]] living a "normal" life on an urban housing estate following a republican revolution.
* ''Ghost Children'' (1997), a novel treating the issues of bereavement, child abuse and women's self-esteem in relation to body image.
* ''[[Number Ten (novel)|Number Ten]]'' (2002)
* ''[[Queen Camilla (novel)|Queen Camilla]]'' (2006)
* ''The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year'' (2012)

===Plays===
* ''Womberang'' (Soho Poly – 1979)
* ''The Ghost of Daniel Lambert'' ([[Leicester Haymarket Theatre]], 1981) Theatre closed in January 2006
* ''Dayroom'' (Croydon Warehouse Theatre, 1981)
* ''Captain Christmas and the Evil Adults'' (Phoenix Arts Theatre, 1982) now known as the [[Sue Townsend Theatre]]
* ''Bazaar and Rummage'' (Royal Court Theatre, 1982)
* ''Groping for Words'' (Croydon Warehouse, 1983)
* ''The Great Celestial Cow'' (Royal Court Theatre and tour, 1984)
* ''The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾-The Play'' (Leicester Phoenix, 1984) now known as [[Sue Townsend Theatre]]
* ''Ear Nose and Throat'' (National large-scale tour Good Company Theatre Productions, 1988)
* ''Disneyland It Ain't'' (Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, 1989)
* ''Ten Tiny Fingers, Nine Tiny Toes'' (Library Theatre, Manchester, 1989)
* ''The Queen and I'' (Vaudeville Theatre, 1994; toured Australia in summer 1996 as ''The Royals Down Under'')

===Non-fiction===
* ''Mr Bevan's Dream: Why Britain Needs Its Welfare State'' (1989)
* ''The Public Confessions of a Middle-Aged Woman'' (2001)

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Children's literature}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120425231521/http://www.adrianmole.com/Sue/biography Old Biography page]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140630013209/http://www.penguin.co.uk/nf/Author/AuthorPage/0,,1000049987,00.html Penguin Site]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070203220519/http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=authC2D9C28A18dac23605uLr31DC862 British Council Contemporary Writers Site]

{{Sue Townsend}}
{{Adrian Mole}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Townsend, Sue}}
[[Category:1946 births]]
[[Category:2014 deaths]]
[[Category:English blind people]]
[[Category:Blind writers]]
[[Category:English republicans]]
[[Category:English atheists]]
[[Category:English children's writers]]
[[Category:English humorists]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature]]
[[Category:Kidney transplant recipients]]
[[Category:Writers from Leicester]]
[[Category:20th-century English women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century English novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century English dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:British women humorists]]