Desert Island Discs - Ursula Owen

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the editor and publisher, Ursula Owen. Twenty-five years ago she helped create Virago - the feminist publishing house which promotes women writers. A huge success, it became the focus of much attention when she and her colleague, Carmen Callil, fell out in what became a very public row. Recently, she has revamped the magazine Index on Censorship, which debates the issues surrounding freedom of speech and publishes the work of persecuted writers. The daughter of a Jewish family who fled to Britain from Nazi Germany, she was a quiet, reserved and conformist child. Her friends, she says, still wonder how she grew up to be such an outspoken, strong-minded and opinionated woman.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Der Rosenkavalier The Trio From Act Three by Richard Strauss
Book: The collected works by Anton Chekhov
Luxury: Family photo album

Published on Sunday, 14th September 1997.

Available Podcasts from Desert Island Discs

Subscribe to Desert Island Discs

We are not the BBC, we only list available podcasts. To find out more about the programme including episodes available on BBC iPlayer, go to the Desert Island Discs webpage.