Nina Marion Blackett was born in Kensington, London, on February 1, 1900 and is known by her husband Dennis Milner’s surname, but also as Marion Blackett-Milner. After studying at University College (London) and graduating in 1924 with a degree in psychology, she became known as the pioneer of introspective journalism under the pseudonym Joanna Field.

Her first occupations were in the field of career guidance and occupational psychology at the National Institute of Industrial Psychology. At the same time, she engaged in introspective analysis and wrote the book A Life of One’s Own in 1934 as Marion Milner, which was appreciated by Wystan Hugh Auden and Stephen Spender. Her next book, A Life of One’s Own: An Experiment in Leisure was written under the pseudonym of Joanna Field; and continuing her autobiographical writing, fifty years later she published Eternity’s Sunrise: A Way of Keeping a Diary .