Claire Marie Healy’s writing and curated projects explore film, art, fashion, and the internet, with a focus on the experiences of young women. Formerly the editor of Dazed, she has since edited publications on roller discos, dancefloors and SFX makeup for places like IDEA and A24. Her writing has been published by the Tate ("Girlhood", 2023), The Guardian, Dirt, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Cultured, Real Review and others, and she is also a Contributing Editor for AnOther, where her Girlhood Studies column has lived since 2019. Lately, Claire has been working on a new history of girlhood as told through clothing and makeup. 

Books mentioned: ’Girlhood’ by Marie Claire Healy, ’A Summer Bird-Cage’ by Margaret Drabble,

’Women in the Picture’ by Catherine McCormack, ’The Untethered Soul’ by Michael Singer.

Movies mentioned: Virgin suicides, Marie Antoinette, The Beguiled, Hoard, Maxine.

Travis Alabanza is a writer, performer and theatre maker. Their theatre shows Burgerz, Overflow and Sound Of The Underground were all received with critical acclaim. They have given talks on Race and Gender at Harvard, Oxford and Bristol, with their impact in the LGBT plus community being noted in the Forbes 40 under 30 list, Dazed 100 and Attitudes magazine 100 list.

Writers mentioned

James Baldwin, bell hooks.

Books mentioned

None of the Above by Travis Alabanza

The Will To Change by bell hooks

Ella Frears is a poet and artist based in London. Her collection Shine, darling was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for best first collection, and the TS Eliot prize for poetry. 

Writers/artists mentioned

John Cooper Clarke, Sylvia Plath, William Burroughs, Patti Smith, Toni Morrison, William McGonagall.

Book mentioned

Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood.

Tice Cin is an interdisciplinary artist from North London. A London Writers Award winner, her work has appeared in numerous magazines including Extra Teeth and Skin Deep. "Keeping Up The House" is her debut novel.

Writers mentioned
Gabor Mate, Gertrude Stein, Grace Dent, Kareem Parkins Brown.

Filmmaker mentioned
Quentin Tarantino

Musician mentioned
Casisdead

Olivia Sudjic is a writer living in London. Her writing has appeared in publications including the New York Times, Financial Times, Guardian, Vogue, Frieze and Wired. She has taught Creative Writing at Kings College London and is the author of Asylum Road {2021}, Exposure {2018} and Sympathy {2017}.

Books mentioned
Motherhood by Sheila Heti, The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran, The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James, Everyday Utopia by Kristen R. Ghodsee, Mother State by Helen Charman

Writers mentioned
Zadie Smith, Martin Amis, Rachel Cusk

Movies mentioned
The worst Person in the world, Past Lives

Olivia Laing is an acclaimed writer and critic. Recently the author of The Garden Against Time, Laing writes on art and culture for the Guardian, Financial Times and New York Times.

Artists and writers mentioned:
Derek Jarman, Andy Warhol, Chantal Joffe, Hunter S. Thompson.

Books mentioned:
The trip to echo spring and Everybody by Olivia Laing, The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben, Modern Nature by Derek Jarman, The Artists Way by Julia Cameron.

Amelia Abraham is a journalist and author. She has worked as an editor for VICE, Refinery29 and Dazed, and writes for The Guardian, British Vogue, and many other publications. Amelia edited ‘We can do better than this: 35 voices of LGBTQ+ rights’ and her first book ‘Queer Intentions’ is a first-person exploration of the mainstream of queer culture across the West.
Amelia’s favourite book is ‘Walking through clear water in a pool painted black’ by Cookie Mueller.

Writers mentioned:
Edouard Louis, Constance Debre, Sheila Heti, Annie Ernaux, Travis Alabanza

Books mentioned:
‘The woman in me’ by Britney Spears
‘Down the drain’ by Julia Fox

The author of ‘Bad Taste: or the politics of ugliness’, Nathalie Olah is an author, journalist and cultural critic whose writing has been published in The New Statesman, The Guardian, Dazed, and i-D amongst many others.

Nathalie’s favourite writer is Lucia Berlin.

References:
‘A manual for cleaning women’ by Lucia Berlin
George Monbiot (journalist)
Mary Harron, David Lynch, Tim Burton and Charlie Kaufman (filmmakers)
Gloria Steinem (feminist)
Giovannis Room by James Baldwin
American Psycho (movie)
Bret Easton Mills (novelist)
Marlon Brando (actor)
Magnolia, Eyes Wide Shut, Jerry Maguire, Vanilla Sky (movies)

Jess Cole is a writer and model. She has written for the Guardian, Dazed, I-D, Vogue International, The New York Times amongst others.

Jess's favourite poet is Rita Dove.

Poem mentioned

I wanna be yours by John Cooper Clarke

Song mentioned

I wanna be yours by Arctic Monkeys

Artists mentioned

Kendrick Lamar

Courtney Love

Recently the author of "This Ragged Grace", Octavia Bright is a writer and broadcaster. She co-hosted Literary Friction, the literary podcast and NTS show, with Carrie Pitt. Her writing has been published in a number of magazines including The White Review, Harpers Bazaar, Elle, The Sunday Times, amongst others.

Octavia's favourite writer is Maggie Nelson.

Musician mentioned

Amy Winehouse

Artist mentioned

Louise Bourgeois