Administrative/biographical history

Zenka Bartek was a writer and journalist; her journalism was largely literature reviews published in The Telegraph and her creative writing was largely poetry, published in The Women’s Review of Books.

She was born and raised in the East End of London as Rachel Cohen, later taking the name Zenka Bartek after a Russian ballet dancer. Although she knew she was mainly attracted to women since her late teens, she married Hugh Gordon Porteus, whom she eventually left for a woman. Her friends included creatives like Quentin Crisp, T.S. Eliot, Brigid Brophy and A.L. Barker.

Scope and content

The Zenka Bartek Archive includes Bartek’s personal papers and documents; a selection of Bartek’s published literature reviews; correspondence to and from Bartek including from her long-term partner Judith Karolyi, Brigid Brophy, T.S. Eliot and Quentin Crisp; photographs of Bartek herself, previous lovers, family and friends; oral history transcript Bartek gave to Annabel Faraday in 1982. (1912-2016)

Quantity

4 Boxes.