Sally Belfrage

Sally Belfrage

Sally Belfrage (October 4, 1936 – March 14, 1994) was a United States-born British-based 20th century non-fiction writer and international journalist. Her writing covered turmoils in Northern Ireland, the American Civil Rights Movement and her own memoirs about her life. According to her obituary in The New York Times, she was 'an intelligent and humorous journalist and critic who ardently searched for the truth'.

Life

Sally Mary Caroline Belfrage was born in Hollywood, California, on 4 October 1936. Her parents, Cedric Belfrage and Molly Castle, later moved to New York where Sally studied at the Bronx High School of Science and Hunter College, before her parents were deported to London as alleged Communists. After her return to England, Sally Belfrage matriculated at the London School of Economics, and after graduation worked for the Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, in 1957.

Belfrage became a social activist and world traveller. Her books include The Crack: A Belfast Year (retitled Living with War: A Belfast Year for United States distribution), Un-American Activities: A Memoir of the Fifties, Freedom Summer, A Room in Moscow, and Flowers of Emptiness: Reflections on an Ashram. 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.

In 1965, she married Bernard Pomerance who was best known for his play, The Elephant Man. They had two children: Eve Pomerance, a casting director in Hollywood, and Moby Pomerance, a playwright. Sally Belfrage lived most of her life in London, where she died at Middlesex Hospital from lung cancer (adenocarcinoma) in 1994 at age 57. Her brother was Nicolas Belfrage, the wine critic. Her father's brother was Bruce Belfrage, the BBC Newsreader during World War II, and her great uncle was Bryan Powley, the actor.