‘True trailblazer’: British author and activist Maureen Duffy dies aged 92

Duffy wrote novels, plays and poetry, campaigned for gay rights, and was a ‘tireless advocate’ for authors’ rights Maureen Duffy, author of more than 60 works and a pioneering activist for gay rights and writers’ rights, has died at the age of 92. Duffy was awarded the inaugural £10,000 Royal Society of Literature (RSL) Pioneer prize last year by Bernardine Evaristo, who described her as a “true trailblazer in every sense of the word”. She was an “extraordinary author” and a “tireless advocate for authors’ rights”, said Barbara Hayes, chief executive of the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS), of which Duffy was a founding member. “For decades, she championed fair remuneration and proper recognition for creators with remarkable passion and conviction, leaving an enduring legacy for writers everywhere.” Duffy, who died on Wednesday, wrote novels, plays, poetry and nonfiction, including The Microcosm, her landmark 1966 novel inspired by the Gateways lesbian club in London, and Restitution, which was longlisted for the Booker prize in 1998. Born in Worthing, Sussex, in 1933, Duffy’s father left when she was a baby, and her mother died when s