Hi. I'm Laurie. I'm a journalist, an essayist, a screenwriter, an author, a novelist and a game designer. I tell stories for a living. Most of them aren't about me. This one is. 

I've been a journalist for fifteen years and a writer all my life. I report and write columns and features about politics, pop culture, technology, mental health, sex and gender and social change. I’m a fellow of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard and a graduate of the Clarion West Writers' Programme. I've written for The Guardian, Wired, The New York Times, The Independent, The Baffler, Time Magazine and lots and lots of other places. I've been a contributing editor at New Statesman magazine and at The New Inquiry, and I've written nine books.

I'm also a screenwriter - I've staffed on shows including HBO's The Nevers, The Haunting of Bly Manor, and Carnival Row. One day, if I'm very good, I might even take a day off. (ETA: I did not take a day off. I had decided that burnout, breakdown and trauma were things that happened to other people. I was mistaken. That’s where I’ve been. I’m back now. Thanks for waiting.)

I'm also a nerd, a feminist, and a neurodivergent non-binary rainbow-haired internet social justice they-them out causing moderate mayhem. I've travelled to all sorts of places and trying to get under the skin of the culture.

Right now, I’m running my new writing seminar, Write Like A Person, right here on this Substack. There’ll be essays and weekly exercises, and we’ll be thinking a lot about wordcraft and why it matters. You can jump in any time by becoming a paid subscriber:

This is an anxious time time for media and the arts. I'm lucky enough to have a loyal community of readers who have followed my work even while I was burned out, smothered, and hiding from the world. Now I’m rebuilding, and I’m asking you to come with me for the next chapter. And, if you can afford it, for your support.

I want to make this sustainable, and to be directly answerable to my readers, not to advertisers. I previously ran this blog at Patreon, and I thought carefully about moving to Substack, weighed up the pros and cons and potential stake-filled pitfalls, and decided in the end that its was time. With this blog, I’m going back to my roots. That’s why it’s called Penny Red- after my first, beloved internet outboard brain, which I started back when I was younger and squishier and the world was too.

 If you take my writing seriously and have the means, consider becoming a paid subscriber, or even a founding member. The more I can be directly funded by readers, the more exciting things I can do. You could also chip in if you don’t care about my work either way but would quite like to annoy some TERFS and right-wing trolls. Every new subscriber makes another swivel-eyed hatebot regret their life choices just a little. Woop. 

I’m telling you stories. Trust me.

-Jeanette Winterson, The Passion.

Last but not least, I believe in creating art and journalism that everyone can access, whatever their income level, and I know lots of you do, too. That's why I'm keeping most of my writing here publicly available and shareable. Paid members also get access to my writing seminar, Write Like A Person. Buckle up for the technical details: 

Why subscribe?

Be part of the Write Like A Person seminar. Join the community. Make me smile. Fight fascism. Help me keep my roommates in gin and noodles.