Search Results - O'Neill, Gilda

Gilda O'Neill

'''Gilda O'Neill''' (25 May 1951 – 24 September 2010) was a British novelist and historian, particularly of the local history of the East End of London.

A British novelist and historian, born in Bethnal Green in 1951, O’Neill's writing focussed on the East End of London where she grew up. She wrote 5 social histories including the Penguin best-seller My East End: Memories of Life in Cockney London (1999), and 14 novels that she relished were often printed in large type aiming at senior audiences.

Gilda was also a regular pundit on radio programmes about London with the likes of Danny Baker and Robert Elms . Curtis Brown in a Guardian article following her death, commented: "Her works of oral history were held in high regard and widely read“. Elms made similar comments live on air, also suggesting “she was one of our finest contributors”.

Education as a mature student gave Gilda many wonderful opportunities to learn, and she wanted to inspire the next generation of mature students particularly towards oral history - primarily to encourage alternative voices.” After her death the Gilda Street Trust was set up and between 2010 and 2025 it used Gilda's royalties to fund young historians producing oral histories for On the Record such as Holding the Baby (2017–18) interviews and podcasts, as well as oral history about the Weavers Adventure Playground (2022–23) amongst other projects that featured on the Gilda Street Website, as well as listing Gilda's books, the website also hosted advice as to where to find simple oral history methods for non academic members of the community who wanted to have a go.

The Gilda Street Trust will cease in 2025. Provided by Wikipedia