Frieda Hughes
Frieda Rebecca Hughes (born 1 April 1960) is an English-Australian poet and painter. She has published seven children's books, four poetry collections and one short story and has had many exhibitions. Hughes is the daughter of Pulitzer Prize winning American novelist and poet Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, who was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1984 until his death in 1998.
Also recorded as Frieda Rebecca Hughes
Frieda Hughes
- Name
- Frieda Hughes
- Birth Name
- Frieda Rebecca Hughes
- Born
- 1 April 1960
- Birthplace
- London, England
- Field
- Painting, poetry
- Training
- Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design
- Nationality
- United Kingdom.
- Occupation
- painter, poet and writer.
- Fields
- painting.
- Education
- Central Saint Martins and Bedales School.
- Languages
- English.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
Frieda Rebecca Hughes (born 1 April 1960) is an English-Australian poet and painter. She has published seven children's books, four poetry collections and one short story and has had many exhibitions. Hughes is the daughter of Pulitzer Prize winning American novelist and poet Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, who was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1984 until his death in 1998.
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Note VALÉORINE
Frieda Hughes (born 1960) is a British children's writer, painter and poet, among other activities. The children's writer was born in London.
Frieda Hughes studied at Bedales School and Central Saint Martins. The children's writer is active in painting. Languages used include English.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 30 September 2026
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wikidata · Q1061744 · wikipedia · Frieda Hughes
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Frieda Hughes • Birth Name — Frieda Rebecca Hughes • Born — 1 April 1960 • Birthplace — London, England • Field — Painting, poetry • Training — Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design • Parents — Ted Hughes Sylvia Plath
Career
Career
Hughes graduated from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London, with a BA (Hons.) in 1988. In June 2002, she received an Invention and Innovation award from the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts for her project Forty Years. From 2006 to 2008 she wrote a weekly poetry column for The Times newspaper and in 2008 was chair judge for the Forward Prizes for Poetry and a judge for the National Poetry Competition. In February 2010, she was a guest on Private Passions, the biographical music discussion programme on BBC Radio 3. In October 2015, Hughes spoke for the first time about her father as part of the BBC Two documentary Ted Hughes: Stronger Than Death. In April 2023, Hughes appeared on the BBC Radio 4 programme Saturday Live speaking about her book George about her rescue of a magpie chick.
Family and personal life
Family and personal life
Frieda Hughes is the daughter of the poets Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. Her mother was an American novelist and poet, and her father was the British poet laureate from 1984 until his death in 1998. Hughes' mother died by suicide when she was almost three; her father died of a heart attack while being treated for cancer. Hughes' brother, Nicholas Hughes, died by suicide on 16 March 2009. Hughes was born in London. She moved to Perth, Western Australia in 1988, and later settled in Wooroloo, a small hamlet north of Perth, in 1991, where the Australian landscape became the basis of much of her painting. She obtained dual Australian citizenship in 1992. Hughes was married to farmworker Desmond Dawe from 1979 to 1982. Her second husband was an estate agent, Clive Anderson. Her third marriage, in 1996, was to Hungarian artist Laszlo Lukacs; they divorced in 2010 after a year-long separation. She has no children. Hughes rescues, keeps, and paints owls. Hughes currently lives near Abermule, Powys, Wales.
Exhibitions
Exhibitions
• 1989: Group exhibition at the Chris Beetles Gallery, St James's, London. • 1991: Group exhibition with the Milne and Moller Gallery at Art Expo 1991, London. • 1992: Group exhibition with the Milne and Moller Gallery at Art Expo 1992, London. • 1993: Solo exhibition at the Anna Mei Chadwick Gallery, Fulham, London; Joint exhibition at the Delaney Gallery, Perth, Western Australia; and Group exhibition at Perth Galleries, Perth, Western Australia. • 1994: Group exhibition at the Gomboc Gallery, Middle Swan, Western Australia. • 1995: Solo exhibition at the Provenance Gallery, Sydney, Australia; and Solo exhibition at the Anna Mei Chadwick Gallery, London. • 1996: Joint exhibition with Laszlo Lukacs sponsored by Lloyds Bank, London. • 1997: Joint exhibition with Laszlo Lukacs at the Cork St Gallery, London. • 1998: Joint exhibition with Laszlo Lukacs sponsored by the Royal Commonwealth Society, London. • 1999: Joint studio exhibition with Laszlo Lukacs, London. • 2001: Joint studio exhibition with Laszlo Lukacs, London. • 2002: Joint studio exhibition with Laszlo Lukacs, London. • 2003: Joint exhibition with Laszlo Lukacs at the Soan Gallery, London. • 2008: Joint exhibition with Laszlo Lukacs in Powys, Wales. • 2015: Solo exhibition at the October Gallery, London. • 2017: Solo exhibition at Chichester Cathedral. West Sussex. • 2018: Solo exhibition at the Chris Beetles Gallery, London.
Identity
Identity
Frieda Hughes is recorded as painter, poet and writer. Identity and origins. The authorities additionally record the heading Frieda Rebecca Hughes. Her recorded language was English. She was the child of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
Explore 1960–2005
The full dated record · 17 entries
1960
Frieda Hughes born at London.
1986
Getting rid of Aunt Edna is dated 1986.
1986
Getting ridof Edna is dated 1986.
1988
Getting Rid of Edna is dated 1988.
1989
The meal a mile long is dated 1989.
1990
Waldorf Sleeping Granny Hb is dated 1990.
1991
The Meal a Mile Long (Picture Books: Set D) is dated 1991.
1992
Thing in the Sink is dated 1992.
1994
Rent-a-friend is dated 1994.
1995
The Thing in the Sink (Red Storybooks) is dated 1995.
1995
Rent-a-friend (Red Storybooks) is dated 1995.
1997
The Tall Story (Yellow Storybooks) is dated 1997.
2001
Stonepicker is dated 2001.
2002
The Thing in the Sink (Colour Storybook) is dated 2002.
2002
Rent a Friend (Colour Storybook) is dated 2002.
2003
Tall Story (Colour Storybook) is dated 2003.
2005
Three Scary Stories is dated 2005.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Frieda Hughes.com. Frieda. 18 August 2010.
- 2.Frieda Hughes. www.friedahughes.com.
- 3.BBC Radio 3 - Private Passions. BBC.
- 4.Bbc.co.uk. BBC Two – Ted Hughes: Stronger Than Death. 10 October 2015.
- 5.Hughes, Frieda. 'I was his surrogate mother who happened to double as a tree': How Frieda Hughes fell for a magpie chick | Autobiography and memoir. The Guardian. 16 April 2023.
- 6.Bbc.co.uk. BBC Radio 4 - Saturday Live, Chris van Tulleken, Frieda Hughes, Gary Andrews, Alex Jones.
- 7.CNN. Tragic poet Sylvia Plath's son kills himself. 23 March 2009.
- 8.Frieda Hughes Escapes the Shadow of Mom Sylvia Plath. People. 4 December 1989.
- 9.Frieda Hughes stays 'positive' after third divorce. The Telegraph. 6 March 2010.
- 10.Dr. Sandman. When your research leads you to the fact that Sylvia Plath's daughter keeps 14 pet owls https://t.co/0U4WEHkdYL. 1482402640906620932. 15 January 2022.
- 11.Hughes, Frieda. 'I was his surrogate mother who happened to double as a tree': How Frieda Hughes fell for a magpie chick. The Observer. 2023-04-16. 0029-7712.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 16
- 1986: Getting Rid of Edna – published in the UK by Heinemann. Published as Getting Rid of Aunt Edna in the US by Harper and Row. Published in paperback in the UK by Pan Books in 1988.
- 1989: The Meal a Mile Long – author-illustrated picture book for young children. Published by Simon and Schuster in the US, Australia and the UK.
- 1990: Waldorf and the Sleeping Granny – published by Simon and Schuster in the UK.
- 1992: The Thing in the Sink – published by Simon and Schuster in the UK. Reissued in 2003 by Hodder Children's Books.
- 1994: Rent-a-friend – published by Simon and Schuster in the UK.
- 1997: The Tall Story – published by Macdonald Young Books in the UK. Re-issued by Hodder Children's Books in 2003.
- 2001: Three Scary Stories – published by HarperCollins in the UK.
- 1998: Wooroloo – published in the US by Harper Flamingo. Published in 1999 in Australia by Fremantle Arts Centre Press and in the UK by Bloodaxe Books. Wooroloo received a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation.
- 2001: Stonepicker – published by Bloodaxe Books in the UK and Fremantle Press in Australia.
- 2002: Waxworks – published by Bloodaxe Books in the UK, HarperCollins in the US and Fremantle Press in Australia in 2003.
- 2006: Forty-Five – published by HarperCollins in the U.S.
- 2006: The Book of Mirrors – published by Bloodaxe Books in the UK.
- 2009: Stonepicker and The Book of Mirrors – published by HarperCollins in the U.S.
- 2015: Alternative Values: poems & paintings – published by Bloodaxe Books in the UK.
- 2018: Out of the Ashes – published by Bloodaxe Books in the UK.
- Hughes, Frieda. 'I was his surrogate mother who happened to double as a tree': How Frieda Hughes fell for a magpie chick. The Observer. 2023-04-16. 0029-7712.
References
Citations
References
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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