Sally Belfrage (October 4, 1936 – March 14, 1994) was a United States-born British-based 20th century non-fiction writer and international journalist.[1][2] Her writing covered turmoils in Northern Ireland, the American Civil Rights Movement and her own memoirs about her life.[1] According to her obituary in The New York Times, she was 'an intelligent and humorous journalist and critic who ardently searched for the truth'.[3]
Sally Mary Caroline Belfrage was born in Hollywood, California, on 4 October 1936.[2] 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,[2] before her parents were deported to London as alleged Communists.[1][2] After her return to England, Sally Belfrage matriculated at the London School of Economics,[1][2] and after graduation she attended 6th World Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow, went to Communist China [4] and worked for the Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, in 1957.[2]
Belfrage became a social activist and world traveller.[1] Her books include The Crack: A Belfast Year (1987, retitled Living with War: A Belfast Year for United States distribution),[5] Un-American Activities: A Memoir of the Fifties (1995),[6] Freedom Summer (1999),[7] A Room in Moscow (1966),[8] and Flowers of Emptiness: Reflections on an Ashram.[3] 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.[1]
Sally Belfrage lived most of her life in London, where she died at Middlesex Hospital from lung cancer (adenocarcinoma) in 1994 at age 57.[2][9]
In 1965, she married Bernard Pomerance who was best known for his play, The Elephant Man.[10] They had two children: Eve Pomerance, a casting director, screenwriter and producer in Hollywood, and Moby Pomerance, a playwright and screenwriter.[1][11][12]
Belfrage's brother was Nicolas Belfrage, the Master in wine and wine critic.[13] Her father's brother was Bruce Belfrage, the BBC Newsreader during World War II, and her great uncle was Bryan Powley, the actor.[14]
