Laura Del-Rivo, Speedy and Queen Kong

Nicolas Tredell (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of Glasgow), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 2004

Places

United Kingdom (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Laura Del-Rivo (b. 1934) wrote her third novel,

Speedy and Queen Kong

, between 1984 and 1988 (according to a note on its inside back cover), but it was only published (by Paupers’ Press in a limited edition of 200 numbered copies) in 2004, 37 years after the appearance of her second novel,

Daffodil on the Pavement

(1967; republished as

Animals

(1970)) – a very long gap. In those years, Del-Rivo had fallen from public view as an author, but she had continued to write and supported herself by running a clothes stall in Portobello Road market (where she can still be found on Fridays and Saturdays).

Speedy

, a vivid and inventive novel, draws on her experience as a street market trader – for example, Jack Wide, one of the novel’s key characters, has “the trade habit of checking you…

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3125 words

Citation: Tredell, Nicolas. "Speedy and Queen Kong". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 September 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35058, accessed 25 April 2024.]

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