Jay Taverner is the pseudonym

Pseudonym

A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...

 for the writing partnership of Jacky Bratton and Jane Traies. The pair were a long-established lesbian

Lesbian

Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...

 partnership who met as undergraduates at St Anne's College, Oxford in 1963.

Bratton went on to an academic career at the University of London

University of London

-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...

, publishing on nineteenth-century popular culture

Popular culture

Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...

 and latterly concentrating on performance; she is now Research Professor in Theatre and Cultural History at Royal Holloway, University of London

Royal Holloway, University of London

Royal Holloway, University of London is a constituent college of the University of London. The college has three faculties, 18 academic departments, and about 8,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students from over 130 different countries...

.

Their series of books deals with historical lesbian characters.

Publications

• Rebellion (Onlywomen Press 1997)
• Hearts and Minds (Diva Books 2001)
• Something Wicked (Onlywomen Press 2002)