Nina Power | |
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![]() Power in 2009 | |
Born | 1978 (age 46–47) |
Education | |
Notable work | |
Website | ninapower |
Nina Power (born 1978) is an English writer and philosopher, author of three books.
Born in 1978, Power lived as a child in rural Wiltshire. [1] [2]
Power attended the University of Warwick, where she received a BA and MA in philosophy, and completed her doctorate in philosophy at Middlesex University. [3]
Power spent a decade in academia, rising to senior lecturer in philosophy at the University of Roehampton. [3]
With Alberto Toscano, Power is both editor and translator of Alain Badiou's 2003 book On Beckett. [4]
Her book One Dimensional Woman was published in 2009. Academic Elena Marchevska said that the book "questioned ... the purpose and economics of feminism today." [5] The Guardian's reviewer said "[Power] casts her critical eye across an impressive range of subjects, from Sarah Palin to pornography, war and how society structures both home and work. ... I salute this book: because it makes you think." [6] Power argued that in a contemporary environment in which "the blurring of work, social, personal and physical life is almost total," feminism must "recognize the new ways in which life and existence are colonized by new forms of domination that go far beyond objectification as it used to be understood." [7]
In 2019, Power and writer Daniel Miller sued artist Luke Turner for defamation over a series of tweets by Turner. Power and Miller argued the tweets suggested they were both antisemitic. [8] Almost £30,000 was raised through a crowdfunder to support Power and Miller's legal action, titled "Targeted, harassed and falsely labelled a fascist". Turner countersued for harassment. [9] The judge dismissed the claims of both parties in November 2023. [8] The judge ordered Power and Miller to pay 80% of Turner's court costs, which ran into the six figures. Turner was then able to have Power and Miller declared bankrupt involuntarily the following year. [10]
Power published What Do Men Want? in 2021. In The Times , Louise Perry called the book "bracingly original" with a "refreshingly sympathetic view of men and masculinity." [11] Writing in The Guardian, Houman Barekat said that "Power’s ostensibly reasonable call for compassion feels at best platitudinous, at worst disingenuous or even reactionary" when "set against her caricaturing of bien-pensant liberalism." [12]
Some of the publications Power regularly contributes to as of 2025 are The Telegraph and The Spectator . [13] [14] She previously regularly contributed to The Wire and The Guardian . [15] [16]
Power was a senior editor of and columnist for the online magazine Compact until her resignation in July 2024. [17] [18] [19] [20]
Since 2021, Power has co-hosted the podcast The Lack with political theorist Benjamin Studebaker and filmmaker Helen Rollins. [3] [21]
In May 2023, Power spoke at the National Conservatism Conference in London on the topic "After the Individual." [22] Writer Dan Hitchens reported that she "bluntly urged their [sic] audience to just go to church." [23]
Some of her works have argued for a "return to old values and virtues", especially as a response to a claimed masculinity crisis. [12] [24]
In November 2023, after seven days of testimony at the High Court, Mrs Justice Collins Rice issued a lengthy judgment (available online, case number QB-2019-003691) that ultimately dismissed both claims, but then, in a devastating blow for Miller and Power that revealed the judge's take on the merit of the respective claims, ordered the pair to pay 80% of all Turner's court costs - a first instalment of £250,000 was due within a fortnight. .... On 1 February this year Miller was declared bankrupt, as was Power on 1 July.