Chris Kraus is an American writer, filmmaker and art critic whose work often mixes memoir, fiction and cultural criticism.
Her latest novel, The Four Spent the Day Together (2025), continues her signature blend of autofiction and social commentary by weaving together the story of a murder in Minnesota, the ambitions of a working-class family, and the fall-out of a crumbling marriage.
Lynne Tillman is a novelist, essayist, and cultural critic known for her sharp, inventive prose and genre-defying work. She is the author of several acclaimed books, including American Genius, A Comedy and Men and Apparitions. Her latest book, Thrilled to Death: Selected Stories, published in 2025, showcases four decades of her short fiction.
We also mention The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales by Bruno Bettelheim and Fire in the Belly: The Life and Times of David Wojnarowicz by Cynthia Carr.
Heather McCalden is a multidisciplinary artist working with text image and movement. The Observable Universe is her first book.
Books mentioned
- Lady Sings The Blues by Billie Holiday
Ariana Reines is an award winning poet, playwright and performance artist.
Books mentioned- Paradise Lost by John Milton, The Rose, Waves Of Blood and A Sand Book by Ariana Reines.
Charlie Porter is a writer, fashion critic and curator. He has written for the Financial Times, the Guardian, The New York Times, GQ, amongst others, and has been described as one of the most influential fashion journalists of his time.
Books mentioned: The Gentrification of the Mind by Sarah Schulman, The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington
Judith Butler is a leading philosopher and gender theorist, best known for their book Gender Trouble, where they introduced the concept of gender performativity. Their work has greatly influenced feminist and queer theory.
Books mentioned: Who's afraid of gender? by Judith Butler, The second Sex by Simone De Beauvoir
Tilly Lawless is a queer, Sydney-based sex worker and writer. Her debut title Nothing But My Body was published in 2021 followed by Thora (2024).
Books mentioned:
Revolting Prostitutes: the fight for sex workers rights by Juno Mac and Molly Smith, Working girl: on selling art and selling sex by Sophia Giovannitti, The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter, In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado, Women Who Become Men by Antonia Young.
Alexis Pauline Gumbs is a writer, poet, independent scholar, and activist. Their latest book is titled Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde.
Book mentioned: Survival is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde by Alexis Pauline Gumbs and Your Silence Will Not Protect You by Audre Lorde
Eileen Myles is a poet, novelist, performer and art journalist. They are one of the most important figures in American Literature and Poetry.
Books mentioned: A working life by Eileen Myles, Cape Cod by Henry David Thoreau
Song mentioned: Hot Topic by Le Tigre
Kate Nash is a BRIT Award-winning singer-songwriter, musician and actress.
Books mentioned
The Revenge of the She Punks by Vivien Goldman
Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino
The Body Keeps The Score by Besser van der Kolk
Stephen Ellcock is a renowned image collector whose "online cabinet of curiosities" has attracted more than 633,000 followers worldwide. His most recent book `Elements` is out now.
Books and writers mentioned
Shirley Jackson, Harry Smith, In defense of Witches by Mona Chollet.
Elida Silvey is a self-taught Mexican-American poet, writer, and editor living in London. She is a writer for Hard of Hearing Magazine and a member of the Gobjaw Poetry Collective. She is also the Assistant Editor at Montez Press.
Kita Ward is an artist, writer and food researcher looking to deepen our connection to every being we eat through story telling.
CACONRAD is an author and poet. They teach regularly at Columbia University in New York City and Sandberg Art Institute in Amsterdam.
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.
Buy Claires book here Look Again: Girlhood | Books | Tate Shop | Tate Directors mentioned: Sofia Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola.
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)
