Joan Brady

Joan Brady (1939–2024) was an American-British author renowned for her novel Theory of War, which earned her the distinction of being the first woman and first American to win the Whitbread Book of the Year Award, along with the Whitbread Novel of the Year, the French Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger, and a US National Endowment for the Arts grant. Born in San Francisco, she trained as a ballet dancer before studying philosophy at Columbia University, marrying writer Dexter Masters, moving to England, and publishing her debut novel The Impostor in 1979 followed by her autobiography The Unmaking of a Dancer. Her later works shifted to thrillers like Bleedout and Venom, exploring themes of corruption and pharmaceutical malfeasance.