External links
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
Laura Barton | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1977 (age 47–48) Newburgh, Lancashire |
| Occupation | Journalist, writer |
| Education | Worcester College, Oxford |
| Subjects | Rock, pop music, women's issues |
Laura Barton (born 1977) is an English journalist and writer. She writes mainly for The Guardian , and wrote a novel, Twenty-One Locks, published in 2010.
Barton was born in and grew up in the village of Newburgh in Lancashire, and was educated at Winstanley College [1] and read for an English degree at Worcester College, Oxford [ citation needed ]. Following graduation[ citation needed ], she began writing for The Guardian from 2000 specialising in writing features. She has also written for Q magazine, The Word , and Intelligent Life , and broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Much of her writing relates to rock and pop music, and until late 2011 she wrote a fortnightly column about music for The Guardian's Film and Music supplement, called "Hail, Hail, Rock and Roll", as well as a weekly column on women's issues for the newspaper's G2 supplement, called "The View from a Broad". [2]
Her novel, Twenty-One Locks (2010), recounts the story of "a young small-town girl facing the biggest decision of her life." Carol Birch, reviewing it in The Independent, said "Too much grim-up-north trowel-laying mars Laura Barton's otherwise promising first novel. ... Wonderful writing - but it's hard to engage with such a passively selfish central character." [3] Also in the Independent Rob Sharp wrote "When she lets her words flow they become rhythmic; most of them, however, are painstakingly chiselled." and finishes "I look forward to Barton's second [book]." [4] Rosamund Urwin of Evening Standard says "But while well-rendered, the book feels light on ideas. Twenty-One Locks could have been a short story rather than a novel." [5]
Barton worked with photographer Sarah Lee on a photo-essay West of West: Travels along the edge of America, which was published by Unbound (2020, ISBN 978-1783527694) and featured in The Guardian [6] and The New York Review of Books . [7] Her memoir Sad Songs is to be published by Quercus books under its riverrun imprint on 1 May 2025 ( ISBN 978-1529406948).
She made a three-part series Notes on Music for BBC Radio 4 in 2021, discussing the ages of seventeen in music, "happy sad songs", and Bruce Springsteen. [8]
Barton has said she is working on a second novel and a non-fiction book about music. [2] A series of short stories about Northern soul was broadcast on Radio 4 in 2011.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
