Dame Shirley Ida Conran DBE (née Pearce; 21 September 1932 – 9 May 2024) was a British author, designer, journalist and social entrepreneur.

After a serious illness left her with ME, making it difficult for her to work, she wrote best-selling books including the feminist self-help Superwoman (1975) and the bonkbuster Lace (1982).

[5][6] Her father ran a prosperous dry-cleaners but was violent when drunk and forced her to leave home at 19 to earn a living.

Now thin, she worked as an artist's model and used the income to train as a sculptor at Portsmouth College of Art and as a painter at Chelsea Polytechnic.

She made notes to help her with the chores of housework and these were the basis for the book Superwoman, which her friend, Patrick Seale, pushed her into writing by obtaining an advance from a publisher.

"[9] Her first novel, Lace, was published in 1982 by Simon & Schuster[13] and was a huge bestseller, spending 13 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list, reaching as high as No.

[20][21] Conran was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the Truss resignation honours list for services to mathematics education as the founder of the Maths Anxiety Trust.