Born October 22, 1919, in Kermanshah, Persia (now Iran); daughter of Alfred Cook Taylor (a farmer) and Emily Maude McVeagh; married Frank Charles Wisdom, 1939 (marriage dissolved, 1943); married Gottfried Anton Nicholas Lessing, 1945 (marriage dissolved, 1949); children: (first marriage) John (deceased), Jean; (second marriage) Peter. Politics: "Left-wing." Memberships: National Institute of Arts and Letters, American Academy of Arts and Letters, Modern Language Association (honorary fellow), Institute of Cultural Research. Addresses: Agent: Jonathan Clowes Ltd., 10 Iron Bridge House, Bridge Approach, London NW1 8BD, England.

FICTION

• The Grass Is Singing, Crowell (New York, NY), 1950, reprinted, Perennial Classics (New York, NY), 2000.
• This Was the Old Chief's Country (stories), M. Joseph (London, England), 1951.
• Five: Short Novels, M. Joseph (London, England), 1953.
• Retreat to Innocence, M. Joseph (London, England), 1956.
• Habit of Loving (stories), Crowell (New York, NY), 1958.
• The Golden Notebook, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1962, with an introduction by the author, Harper Perennial (New York, NY), 1994.
• A Man and Two Women (stories), Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1963.
• African Stories (includes The Black Madonna), M. Joseph (London, England), 1964, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1965.
• Briefing for a Descent into Hell, Knopf (New York, NY), 1971.
• The Temptation of Jack Orkney and Other Stories, Knopf (New York, NY), 1972, published as The Story of a Non-marrying Man and Other Stories, J. Cape (London, England), 1972.
• The Summer before the Dark, Knopf (New York, NY), 1973.
• The Memoirs of a Survivor, Random House (New York, NY), 1975.
• Stories, Knopf (New York, NY), 1978, published in two volumes as Collected Stories I: To Room Nineteen and Collected Stories II: The Temptation of Jack Orkney and Other Stories, J. Cape (London, England), 1978.
• (Under pseudonym Jane Somers) The Diary of a Good Neighbor (also see below), Knopf (New York, NY), 1983.
• (Under pseudonym Jane Somers) If the Old Could ... (also see below), Knopf (New York, NY), 1984.
• The Diaries of Jane Somers (contains The Diary of a Good Neighbor and If the Old Could ...), Random House (New York, NY), 1984.
• The Good Terrorist, Knopf (New York, NY), 1985, reprinted, Vintage International (New York, NY), 2008.
• The Fifth Child, Knopf (New York, NY), 1988.
• The Doris Lessing Reader, Knopf (New York, NY), 1989.
• The Real Thing: Stories and Sketches, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1992, published as London Observed: Stories and Sketches, HarperCollins (London, England), 1992.
• Love, Again, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1996.
• Mara and Dann: An Adventure, HarperFlamingo (New York, NY), 1999.
• Ben, in the World (sequel to The Fifth Child), HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2000.
• The Sweetest Dream, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2002.
• The Grandmothers: Four Short Novels, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2004.
• The Story of General Dann and Mara's Daughter, Griot, and the Snow Dog, Fourth Estate (London, England), 2005.
• The Cleft, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2007.
• Stories, Alfred A. Knopf (New York, NY), 2008.
• Alfred and Emily, Fourth Estate (London, England), 2008.

• Martha Quest, M. Joseph (London, England), 1952.
• A Proper Marriage, M. Joseph (London, England), 1954.
• A Ripple from the Storm, M. Joseph (London, England), 1958.
• Landlocked, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1966.
• The Four-Gated City, Knopf (New York, NY), 1969.

• Re: Colonized Planet Five, Shikasta, Knopf (New York, NY), 1979.
• The Marriage between Zones Three, Four, and Five, Knopf (New York, NY), 1980.
• The Sirian Experiments: The Report of Ambien II, of the Five, Knopf (New York, NY), 1981.
• The Making of the Representative for Planet Eight, Knopf (New York, NY), 1982.
• Documents Relating to the Sentimental Agents in the Volyen Empire, Knopf (New York, NY), 1983.
• Canopus in Argos: Archives (contains Re: Colonized Planet Five, Shikasta; The Marriage between Zones Three, Four, and Five; The Sirian Experiments: The Report of Ambien II, of the Five; The Making of the Representative for Planet Eight; and Documents Relating to the Sentimental Agents in the Volyen Empire), Vintage (New York, NY), 1992.

• Going Home, drawings by Paul Hogarth, M. Joseph (London, England), 1957, with a new afterword, HarperPerennial (New York, NY), 1996.
• In Pursuit of the English: A Documentary, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1961, reprinted, 1996.
• Particularly Cats, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1967, revised edition published as Particularly Cats--and Rufus, Knopf (New York, NY), 1991.
• A Small Personal Voice: Essays, Reviews, Interviews, Random House (New York, NY), 1975.
• Prisons We Choose to Live Inside, Harper (New York, NY), 1987.
• The Wind Blows away Our Words, Random House (New York, NY), 1987.
• African Laughter: Four Visits to Zimbabwe, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1992.
• Under My Skin (autobiography), HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1994.
• Walking in the Shade: Volume Two of My Autobiography, 1949-1962, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1997.
• On Cats, Flamingo (New York, NY), 2002.
• Time Bites: Views and Reviews, Fourth Estate (London, England), 2004.

• Mr. Dollinger, produced in Oxford, England, 1958.
• Each in His Own Wilderness, produced in London, England, 1959.
• The Truth about Billy Newton, produced in Salisbury, England, 1961.
• Play with a Tiger (produced in London, England, 1962; produced in New York, NY, 1964), M. Joseph (London, England), 1962.

Also author of a libretto based on The Making of the Representative for Planet Eight and The Marriages Between Zones 3, 4, and 5, for operas by Philip Glass.

OTHER

• Fourteen Poems, Scorpion Press, 1959.
• The Old Age of El Magnifico, Flamingo (London, England), 2000.