Laurie Penny

Last updated

Laurie Penny
Laurie Penny speaking at republica 2016 (cropped).jpg
Penny in 2016
BornLaura Barnett
(1986-09-28) 28 September 1986 (age 38)
Westminster, London, England
OccupationJournalist, author, screenwriter
Education Brighton College
Alma mater Wadham College, Oxford

Laurie Penny (born Laura Barnett, 28 September 1986) is a British journalist and writer. Penny has written articles for publications including The Guardian, The New York Times and Salon . Penny is a contributing editor at the New Statesman and the author of several books on feminism, and they have also written for American television shows including The Haunting of Bly Manor and The Nevers . [1] [2]

Contents

Early life and education

Penny was born in London, England, to two lawyers of Irish, Jewish and Maltese descent, [3] and grew up in Lewes [4] and Brighton. [5] Penny suffered from anorexia as a teenager and was hospitalised with the condition aged 17. They recovered from the illness and wrote about the experience from a feminist perspective in their book Unspeakable Things . [6]

Penny attended the independent school Brighton College before studying English at Wadham College, Oxford. [7]

Career

Penny's blog "Penny Red" was launched in 2007 [8] and was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for blogging in 2010. [9] Penny went on to become a columnist at The Independent in 2012 [10] and then a columnist and contributing editor for the New Statesman. [11] They are a regular contributor to The Guardian. [12]

In April 2011, they presented the Channel 4 Dispatches programme "Cashing in on Degrees". [13] and also appeared on Channel 4's satirical current affairs programme 10 O'Clock Live [14] and on BBC Two's Newsnight . [15]

In 2012, Tatler magazine described Penny as one of the top 100 "people who matter". [16] In October 2012, The Daily Telegraph ranked Penny as the 55th most influential left-winger in Britain, describing them as "without doubt the loudest and most controversial female voice on the radical left", [17] and the knowledge networking company Editorial Intelligence awarded Penny its "Twitter Public Personality" award. [18] In 2015, Penny was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. [19]

Several of Penny's articles have provoked criticism, including a 2014 article for the New Statesman that argued short hair on women was a "political statement" [20] and a 2015 article defending vandalism of the Monument to the Women of World War II. [21]

Publications

Penny is the author of seven books, including Bitch Doctrine, Unspeakable Things and Everything Belongs to the Future. [22] Penny's book Penny Red: Notes from the New Age of Dissent was shortlisted for the first Bread and Roses Award for Radical Publishing in 2012. [23] Their seventh book, Bitch Doctrine: Essays for Dissenting Adults, was longlisted for the 2018 Orwell Prize. [24]

Screenwriting

Penny has also written for streaming TV, contributing to episodes of the Netflix show The Haunting of Bly Manor and HBO's The Nevers , and acted as a story editor on Carnival Row . [25]

Personal life

Penny came out as genderqueer, pansexual and polyamorous in 2015. [26] [27] In 2020, Penny stated a preference for the pronouns they/them; they also use she/her pronouns, although they consider them to be "less accurate". [28]

In December 2020, Penny married David Boarder Giles on the internet. [29]

Penny has spoken of having complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) [30] and autism. [31]

Awards

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kamila Shamsie</span> Pakistani and British writer and novelist (born 1973)

Kamila Shamsie FRSL is a Pakistani and British writer and novelist who is best known for her award-winning novel Home Fire (2017). Named on Granta magazine's list of 20 best young British writers, Shamsie has been described by The New Indian Express as "a novelist to reckon with and to look forward to." She also writes for publications including The Guardian, New Statesman, Index on Censorship and Prospect, and broadcasts on radio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Funder</span> Australian author (born 1966)

Anna Funder is an Australian author. She is the author of Stasiland, All That I Am, Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life and the novella The Girl With the Dogs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ali Smith</span> Scottish author and journalist (born 1962)

Ali Smith CBE FRSL is a Scottish author, playwright, academic and journalist. Sebastian Barry described her in 2016 as "Scotland's Nobel laureate-in-waiting".

Benjamin Myers FRSL is an English writer and journalist.

The Orwell Prize is a British prize for political writing. The Prize is awarded by The Orwell Foundation, an independent charity governed by a board of trustees. Four prizes are awarded each year: one each for a fiction and non-fiction book on politics, one for journalism and one for "Exposing Britain's Social Evils" ; between 2009 and 2012, a fifth prize was awarded for blogging. In each case, the winner is the short-listed entry which comes closest to George Orwell's own ambition to "make political writing into an art".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christina Lamb</span> British journalist and author

Christina Lamb OBE is a British journalist and author. She is the chief foreign correspondent of The Sunday Times.

Jason Cowley is a journalist, magazine editor and writer. After working at the New Statesman, he became the editor of Granta in September 2007, while also remaining a writer on The Observer. He returned to the New Statesman as its editor in September 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johann Hari</span> Scottish writer

Johann Eduard Hari is a Scottish writer and journalist whose books include 2022's Stolen Focus, about technology and modern lifestyles' impact on attention spans and mental health, and 2015's Chasing the Scream, about addiction and the war on drugs. Both were New York Times bestsellers, and Hari’s 2015 TED Talk based on Chasing the Scream was one of the most-watched of the year. Up until 2011, Hari wrote for The Independent, among other outlets, before resigning after admitting to plagiarism and fabrications dating back to 2001.

The J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize is an annual $10,000 award given to a book that exemplifies, "literary grace, a commitment to serious research and social concern." The prize is given by the Nieman Foundation and by the Columbia University School of Journalism.

Nikita Lalwani FRSL is a novelist born in Kota, Rajasthan and raised in Cardiff, Wales. Her work has been translated into sixteen languages.

Oneworld Publications is a British independent publishing firm founded in 1986 by Novin Doostdar and Juliet Mabey originally to publish accessible non-fiction by experts and academics for the general market. Based in London, it later added a literary fiction list and both a children's list and an upmarket crime list, and now publishes across a wide range of subjects, including history, politics, current affairs, popular science, religion, philosophy, and psychology, as well as literary fiction, crime fiction and suspense, and children's titles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rachel Shabi</span> British journalist and author

Rachel Shabi is a British journalist and author. She is a contributing writer to The Guardian and the author of Not the Enemy, Israel's Jews from Arab Lands.

Deborah Levy is a British novelist, playwright and poet. She initially concentrated on writing for the theatre – her plays were staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company – before focusing on prose fiction. Her early novels included Beautiful Mutants, Swallowing Geography, and Billy & Girl. Her more recent fiction has included the Booker-shortlisted novels Swimming Home and Hot Milk, as well as the Booker-longlisted The Man Who Saw Everything, and the short-story collection Black Vodka.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juliet Jacques</span> British journalist (born 1981)

Juliet Jacques uses the transgender experience as a writer, journalist and filmmaker, including Jacques' transition to a woman, as well as her short fiction and cultural criticism, but also for critical writing on football.

The Goldsmiths Prize is a British literary award, founded in 2013 by Goldsmiths, University of London, in association with the New Statesman. It is awarded annually to a piece of fiction that "breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the novel form." It is limited to citizens and residents of the United Kingdom and Ireland, and to novels published by presses based in the United Kingdom or Ireland. The winner receives £10,000.

Maya Jaggi is a British writer, literary critic, editor and cultural journalist. In the words of the Open University, from which Jaggi received an honorary doctorate in 2012, she "has had a transformative influence in the last 25 years in extending the map of international writing today". Jaggi has been a contributor to a wide range of publications including The Guardian, Financial Times, The Independent, The Literary Review, The Times Literary Supplement, The New York Review of Books, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, New Statesman, Wasafiri, Index on Censorship, and Newsweek, and is particularly known for her profiles of writers, artists, film-makers, musicians and others. She is also a broadcaster and presenter on radio and television. Jaggi is the niece of actor and food writer Madhur Jaffrey.

Owen Matthews is a British writer, historian and journalist. His first book, Stalin's Children, was shortlisted for the 2008 Guardian First Book Award, the Orwell Prize for political writing, and France's Prix Médicis Etranger. His books have been translated into 28 languages. He is a former Moscow and Istanbul Bureau Chief for Newsweek.

<i>Unspeakable Things</i> 2014 book by Laurie Penny

Unspeakable Things: Sex, Lies and Revolution is a 2014 book by British journalist, author and political activist Laurie Penny.

<i>Coolie Woman</i> 2013 book by Gaiutra Bahadur

Coolie Woman is a book written by Gaiutra Bahadur and co-published in 2013 by Hurst and Company of London in Europe and the University of Chicago Press in the US. Editions from Hachette in India in 2013 and Jacana in South Africa in 2014 followed.

Gaiutra Bahadur is a Guyanese-American writer. She is best known for Coolie Woman: The Odyssey of Indenture, which was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize in 2014.

References

  1. "Laurie Penny". IMDb. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  2. Johnston, Rich (12 July 2019). "Talking to Laurie Penny About the Switch From British Politics to Hollywood". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  3. "Laurie Penny on the politics of the personal (From Herald Scotland)". The Herald. Glasgow. 12 July 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  4. Penny, Laurie (6 November 2014). "So they burned Alex Salmond in my hometown". New Statesman. London. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
  5. "Laurie Penny". Archived from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  6. Laurie Penny (30 June 2014). "Being a perfect girl can kill you". The Guardian . London.
  7. "Laurie Penny". Archived from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  8. "We have achieved preambulation. Bring me a sweetie-bag of amphetamines and the head of Margaret Thatcher". Laurie Penny – via Penny Red blogspot. 23 September 2007. Retrieved 13 April 2011.
  9. "Orwell Prize 2010 Longlists Announced". The Orwell Foundation. 24 March 2010. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  10. "Laurie Penny leaves The Independent after nine months to rejoin New Statesman".
  11. "Laurie Penny, Author at New Statesman". New Statesman. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  12. "Laurie Penny profile at The Guardian online". The Guardian. London. 7 August 2009. Retrieved 13 April 2011.
  13. "Cashing in on Degrees- Channel 4 Dispatches". 5 April 2011.
  14. "10 O'Clock Live". IMDb . Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  15. "Newsnight". IMDb . Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  16. "The Future of Humanity". LSE. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  17. "Top 100 most influential figures from the Left 2012". The Daily Telegraph. 3 October 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
  18. Turvill, William (18 October 2012). "The late Marie Colvin among seven Times and Sunday Times winners at Comment Awards". Press Gazette. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  19. Nieman Fellowship Class of 2015, Harvard University, 30 April 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  20. "Sorry Laurie Penny, but the patriarchy likes short hair | Coffee House". The Spectator. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  21. "Laurie Penny defends war memorial vandalism at anti-Tory march | Coffee House". The Spectator. 9 May 2015. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  22. "Laurie Penny | Authors". Macmillan. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  23. "New prize for radical writing announces shortlist".
  24. Onwuemezi, Natasha (10 April 2018). "The Bookseller". The Bookseller.
  25. "Talking to Laurie Penny About the Switch from British Politics to Hollywood". 12 July 2019.
  26. Penny, Laurie (31 October 2015). "How To Be A Genderqueer Feminist". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  27. Laurie Penny [@PennyRed] (11 October 2015). "Hi. I'm pansexual, polyamorous and a genderqueer woman. I prefer the pronouns 'she' or 'they' and sometimes 'oi, you!' #NationalComingOutDay" (Tweet) via Twitter.
  28. Laurie Penny [@PennyRed] (9 August 2020). "TLDR my preferred pronouns are they/them. She/her is also fine, just less accurate. I'm not out to threaten anyone else's identity here, I've got no time for bullies, and if you're going to be a wanker about it I'd prefer you not address me at all" (Tweet) via Twitter.
  29. Penny, Laurie (13 December 2020). "My Highly Unexpected Heterosexual Pandemic Zoom Wedding". Wired.
  30. Laurie Penny [@PennyRed] (7 March 2022). "Last night, I wrote about a recent experience of a CPTSD-related flashback. I'm now getting a lot of harassment about it. I want to be clear to anyone else who has been through trauma that actually, it's okay to talk about it, and not everyone out there is a gaslighting wanker" (Tweet) via Twitter.
  31. Penny, Laurie (8 May 2022). "Thread: I'm autistic". Substack . Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  32. "Laurie Penny". The Orwell Prize. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  33. Flood, Alison (6 March 2012). "New prize for radical writing announces shortlist". TheGuardian.com . Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  34. "Laurie Penny shortlisted for the Red Women of the Year awards 2014". Blake Friedmann. 7 July 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  35. "Nieman announces named fellowships for the class of 2015". Nieman Reports. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  36. "Berkman Center Announces 2015-2016 Community". Berkman Klein Center. 19 October 2015. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  37. "2017 Hugo Awards". The Hugo Awards. 31 December 2016. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  38. "Ellies 2018 Finalists Announced". American Society of Magazine Editors. 2018. Retrieved 12 April 2021.