latest articles


In 2013 I was an International Reporting Project Fellow, covering international development for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, in a year-long project run by Johns Hopkins University. An archive of my pieces on this topic can be found here.

My May 2013 article on trafficking for the British Council USA's Roadkill project can be accessed here.

A constantly updated link to my Guardian and Observer articles and weekly columns can be found here.

A constantly updated link to my Huffington Post articles can be found here.

My New Humanist piece on the military occupation in the West Bank is here and my piece for them about the Indian international surrogacy industry is here.

Here is an edited version of my contribution to Fifty Shades of Feminism that was excerpted by the Mail on Sunday in mid-March 2013.

My contribution to Mumsnet's We Believe You Campaign against victim-blaming, rape myths, rape culture and sexual violence perpetrator excusal can be found here.

My essay on the art and craft of the short story for the University of Chichester's literature course is here.

Here are some articles for The List about Tracey Emin, poet Sharon Olds, artist and designer Mio Matsumoto, artists Gilbert and George, novelist and poet Sapphire, novelist Angela Carter and photographer Man Ray.

Links to some New Statesman pieces can be found here.

In the Financial Times I've reviewed Jonathan Lethem, Patricia Duncker and Lionel Shriver, among others.

Here are my Independent on Sunday reviews of Susan Sontag, Stephenie Meyer, Adam Roberts, Jeremy Reed and Naomi Novik. A general search like this will also throw up some (but not all) of my very old columns from 1998 or so.

Here are my F Word reviews of Maggie Gee and Stella Duffy and a feature on women and writing retreats.

For Women's Views on News I have written about body image, Rebekah Brooks and Palestine.

On this site are full length reviews of Dark Matter by Michelle Paver // A Card From Angela Carter by Susannah Clapp // Tehran, Lipstick and Loopholes by Nahal Tajadod // Perfect Lives by Polly Samson // The Good Muslim by Tahmima Anam // Paradoxical Undressing by Kristin Hersh // The Diary of The Lady: My First Year as Editor by Rachel Johnson // Lucky Bunny by Jill Dawson // The Falafel King is Dead by Sara Shilo // the Guardian's Women of the Revolution: Forty Years of Feminism anthology // All That I Am by Anna Funder // The Liars' Gospel by Naomi Alderman // Pride and Prejudice // Swimming Home by Deborah Levy // Dolly by Susan Hill //The Small Hours by Susie Boyt and Straight Expectations by Julie Bindel as well as film, art, performance and music reviews including Self Made by Gillian Wearing // Orgasm Inc by Liz Canner and A Sounds and Silents event featuring Imogen Heap, Micachu, Tara Busch and Seaming. 

My (light hearted) essay on the depiction of lesbians on TV, for an anthology celebrating 25 years of Channel Four, is here.

My Browser interview with Anna Blundy about which 5 books on gender I would recommend is here.

There are a thousand other features from style magazines including i-D, Dazed, Volume, Oyster and others from 1993 onwards floating around, but I can't find them. And what a shame that my teenage journalism, features, personal press, interviews to promote my books and columns have been lost to the abyss of net-unworthy pre e-time...