[4] After attending Streatham and Clapham High School, in south London, she began work as a journalist on The Croydon Advertiser,[5] following in her father's footsteps.

In 1969, she used the proceeds of her Somerset Maugham Award to leave her husband and relocate for two years to Tokyo, where, she claims in Nothing Sacred (1982), that she "learnt what it is to be a woman and became radicalised".

In her 1985 interview with Helen Cagney, Carter said, “So, I suppose that what interests me is the way these fairy tales and folklore are methods of making sense of events and certain occurrences in a particular way.”[11] Sarah Gamble, therefore, argued that Carter’s book is a manifestation of her materialism, that is, “her desire to bring fairy tale back down to earth in order to demonstrate how it could be used to explore the real conditions of everyday life".

"[13] As well as being a prolific writer of fiction, Carter contributed many articles to The Guardian, The Independent and New Statesman, collected in Shaking a Leg.

She was actively involved in both adaptations;[15] her screenplays were subsequently published in The Curious Room, a collection of her dramatic writings, including radio scripts and a libretto for an opera based on Virginia Woolf's Orlando.

English Heritage unveiled a blue plaque at Carter's final home at 107, The Chase in Clapham, South London in September 2019.

[19] The British Library acquired the Angela Carter Papers in 2008, a large collection of 224 files and volumes containing manuscripts, correspondence, personal diaries, photographs, and audio cassettes.