Anna Mendelson 1948-2009

The members of the Kate Sharpley Library collective are saddened to report the recent death of Anna Mendelson. Anna was one of the defendants in the "Stoke Newington Eight" ("Angry Brigade") trial of 1972. After her release from prison she devoted herself to poetry and family life, publishing her work as Grace Lake.

John Barker, one of her co-defendants, paid her this tribute: "Anna was such a dynamo... [She made] a commitment to the life of a poet and mother in which I'm sure she put the same wholehearted conviction she gave to everything. She had shown this to a 'public audience' when defending herself at the Old Bailey trial which could not be forgotten by anyone who witnessed a political passion without cliches."

Anna died on 16th November after a long battle with cancer. Our thoughts go out to her family and friends.

[Mendleson was her family name, but it's often spelled Mendelson. Later she adopted the spelling Mendelssohn. An obituary from the next Kate Sharpley Library bulletin has now been posted:
http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/9w0wq9]