Interview with with Marjorie-Ann Watts

By Ginevra Avalle

Recorded by Laia Puig i Espar

London, May 2021

Marjorie-Ann Watts is the granddaughter of the founder of PEN International, Catharine Amy Dawson Scott, and the daughter of the first Secretary of PEN, Marjorie Watts.  After studying painting and illustration in the 1940s , she worked for a time as an Art editor and typographer, then started as a book illustrator before writing and illustrating her own books for children. In 2000,  she switched to adult fiction and has published a number of books including a Collection of short stories, a memoir of a wartime childhood in London and a Young Person’s Guide to European Painting. She has just completed another ‘Collection of Short Stories’.

In this video Marjorie-Ann Watts speaks about her memories of PEN and her grandmother Catharine Amy Dawson Scott, founder of PEN International.

In this video Marjorie-Ann Watts shows us some pictures from a family album.