Ursula Owen
Encyclopedia
Ursula Margaret Sachs is a publisher
, editor
and campaigner for free expression
.
, England
, to Emma Boehm and Werner Sachs, a chemical engineer
who became managing director of a multinational company
dealing with non ferrous
metals. Her parents were German Jews
, and Owen spent the first 18 months of her life in Berlin
, after which the family was forced to leave Nazi Germany
and came to London
.
and from there went to St Hugh's College
, where she studied medicine
and took a B.A.
in Physiology
. She then moved into the social sciences
, taking a Graduate Diploma
at Bedford College in London, and working for some years as a social worker and researcher into mental health
issues.
profession as an editor at Frank Cass in the early 1970s. She then worked briefly at Barrie & Jenkins
. In 1974, Owen became a founder director of Virago Press
. As editorial director and later managing director she oversaw the creation of the Virago list. She remained on Virago's board until the company was sold to Little, Brown and Company
in 1996.
In 1990 Owen was appointed director of the Paul Hamlyn
Fund and cultural policy
advisor to the Labour Party
. The fund was established to promote and develop Labour's cultural policies under the Shadow Arts Minister Mark Fisher in the run up to the 1992 general election. In l993, she became editor and chief executive of Index on Censorship
, a magazine for free expression
founded by Stephen Spender
in 1972. Owen relaunched the magazine, increasing its sales and media profile. She travelled widely for the magazine. Under her editorship from 1993–2006, Index became a vital source on all aspects of free expression for media and human rights
organisations throughout the world and won several major awards.
Owen is the project director of Free Word, a centre for literature
, literacy
and free expression in London. Free Word was conceived in 2004, and Owen took it through from an idea to concrete reality, finding the funding from Norwegian foundation Fritt Ord to buy a building for the centre in Farringdon Road
. It opened in June 2009.
Owen is on the board of the South Bank Centre
and English Touring Opera
. She has been a governor of Parliament Hill Field School, on the board of the New Statesman
and the committee of the Royal Literary Fund
. She has lived in Egypt
, Lebanon
and the United States
.
Owen is the editor of Fathers: Reflections by Daughters, Virago in 1983 and Whose Cities (with Mark Fisher), Penguin
in 1991.
Publishing
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...
, editor
Editor in chief
An editor-in-chief is a publication's primary editor, having final responsibility for the operations and policies. Additionally, the editor-in-chief is held accountable for delegating tasks to staff members as well as keeping up with the time it takes them to complete their task...
and campaigner for free expression
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
.
Early life
She was born Ursula Margaret Sachs in OxfordOxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, to Emma Boehm and Werner Sachs, a chemical engineer
Chemical engineer
In the field of engineering, a chemical engineer is the profession in which one works principally in the chemical industry to convert basic raw materials into a variety of products, and deals with the design and operation of plants and equipment to perform such work...
who became managing director of a multinational company
Multinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...
dealing with non ferrous
Ferrous
Ferrous , in chemistry, indicates a divalent iron compound , as opposed to ferric, which indicates a trivalent iron compound ....
metals. Her parents were German Jews
History of the Jews in Germany
The presence of Jews in Germany has been established since the early 4th century. The community prospered under Charlemagne, but suffered during the Crusades...
, and Owen spent the first 18 months of her life in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, after which the family was forced to leave Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
and came to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Education
Owen was educated at Putney High SchoolPutney High School
Putney High School is an independent all-girls school in Putney, London. It is run by the Girls' Day School Trust, a union of 26 schools with 19,500 students and 3,500 staff.-Location and information:...
and from there went to St Hugh's College
St Hugh's College, Oxford
St Hugh's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. It is located on a fourteen and a half acre site on St Margaret's Road, to the North of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 as a women's college, and accepted its first male students in its centenary year in 1986...
, where she studied medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
and took a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in Physiology
Physiology
Physiology is the science of the function of living systems. This includes how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and bio-molecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system. The highest honor awarded in physiology is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or...
. She then moved into the social sciences
Social sciences
Social science is the field of study concerned with society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences usually exclusive of the administrative or managerial sciences...
, taking a Graduate Diploma
Graduate Diploma
A Graduate Diploma is generally a postgraduate qualification, although some graduate diplomas involve the study of undergraduate level courses...
at Bedford College in London, and working for some years as a social worker and researcher into mental health
Mental health
Mental health describes either a level of cognitive or emotional well-being or an absence of a mental disorder. From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology or holism mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and...
issues.
Career
She entered the publishingPublishing
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...
profession as an editor at Frank Cass in the early 1970s. She then worked briefly at Barrie & Jenkins
Barrie & Jenkins
Barrie & Jenkins was a small British publishing house that was formed in 1964 from the merger of "Herbert Jenkins" and "Barrie & Rockcliffe". One of their most notable authors was P. G...
. In 1974, Owen became a founder director of Virago Press
Virago Press
Virago is a British publishing company founded in 1973 by Carmen Callil to publish books by women writers. Both new works and reissued books by neglected authors have featured on the imprint's list....
. As editorial director and later managing director she oversaw the creation of the Virago list. She remained on Virago's board until the company was sold to Little, Brown and Company
Little, Brown and Company
Little, Brown and Company is a publishing house established by Charles Coffin Little and his partner, James Brown. Since 2006 it has been a constituent unit of Hachette Book Group USA.-19th century:...
in 1996.
In 1990 Owen was appointed director of the Paul Hamlyn
Paul Hamlyn
Paul Hamlyn, Baron Hamlyn of Edgeworth, CBE , was a German-born British publisher and philanthropist.-Family:...
Fund and cultural policy
Cultural policy
Cultural Policy is the area of public policy-making that governs activities related to the arts and culture. Generally, this involves fostering processes, legal classifications and institutions which promote cultural diversity and accessibility, as well as enhancing and promulgating the artistic,...
advisor to the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
. The fund was established to promote and develop Labour's cultural policies under the Shadow Arts Minister Mark Fisher in the run up to the 1992 general election. In l993, she became editor and chief executive of Index on Censorship
Index on Censorship
Index on Censorship is a campaigning publishing organisation for freedom of expression, which produces an award-winning quarterly magazine of the same name from London. The present chief executive of Index on Censorship, since 2008, is the author, broadcaster and commentator John Kampfner, former...
, a magazine for free expression
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
founded by Stephen Spender
Stephen Spender
Sir Stephen Harold Spender CBE was an English poet, novelist and essayist who concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle in his work...
in 1972. Owen relaunched the magazine, increasing its sales and media profile. She travelled widely for the magazine. Under her editorship from 1993–2006, Index became a vital source on all aspects of free expression for media and human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
organisations throughout the world and won several major awards.
Owen is the project director of Free Word, a centre for literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
, literacy
Literacy
Literacy has traditionally been described as the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently and think critically about printed material.Literacy represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from print...
and free expression in London. Free Word was conceived in 2004, and Owen took it through from an idea to concrete reality, finding the funding from Norwegian foundation Fritt Ord to buy a building for the centre in Farringdon Road
Farringdon Road
Farringdon Road is a road in Clerkenwell, Central London. Its construction, which took almost 20 years between the 1840s and the 1860s, is considered one of the greatest urban engineering achievements of the nineteenth century...
. It opened in June 2009.
Owen is on the board of the South Bank Centre
South Bank Centre
Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, UK, on the South Bank of the River Thames between County Hall and Waterloo Bridge. It comprises three main buildings , and is Europe’s largest centre for the arts. It attracts more than three million visitors annually...
and English Touring Opera
English Touring Opera
English Touring Opera is an opera company in the United Kingdom. From 1979 to 1992 it was known as Opera 80.- About the company :Opera 80 was founded in 1979 by the Arts Council of Great Britain as the successor to Opera For All; in 1992 the company changed its name to English Touring Opera...
. She has been a governor of Parliament Hill Field School, on the board of the New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
and the committee of the Royal Literary Fund
Royal Literary Fund
The Royal Literary Fund is a benevolent fund set up to help published British writers in financial difficulties. It was founded by Reverend David Williams in 1790 and has received bequests and donations, including royal patronage, ever since...
. She has lived in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Owen is the editor of Fathers: Reflections by Daughters, Virago in 1983 and Whose Cities (with Mark Fisher), Penguin
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
in 1991.