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Caitlin Moran

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Caitlin Moran
Caitlin Moran
Born
Catherine Elizabeth Moran

(1975-04-05) 5 April 1975 (age 49)
Brighton, England
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Journalist, author, broadcaster
Known forHow to Be a Woman
Moranthology
How To Build a Girl

Caitlin Moran (born Catherine Elizabeth Moran; 5 April 1975) is an English broadcaster, TV critic and columnist[1] at The Times, where she writes three columns a week: one for the Saturday Magazine, a TV review column, and the satirical Friday column "Celebrity Watch". Moran is British Press Awards (BPA) Columnist of the Year for 2010, and both BPA Critic of the Year 2011, and Interviewer of the Year 2011.[2]

Early life

Moran's Irish father is a one-time "drummer and psychedelic rock pioneer" who became "confined to the sofa by osteoarthritis".[3] She is the eldest of eight children and has four sisters and three brothers. She was born in Brighton and then lived in a three-bedroom council house in Wolverhampton with her parents and seven siblings, an experience she described as akin to "The Hunger Games".[4] She attended Springdale Junior School and was then educated at home from the age of 11, having attended secondary school for only three weeks.[5]

Moran and her siblings received no proper formal education from their parents during this time; the local council allowed them to do so, as they were "the only hippies in Wolverhampton".[4] The children frequently occupied their time with simple games, such as throwing mud at their house.[4] Moran describes her childhood as happy but revealed she left home as soon as she was able, at age 18.[4]

Journalism and writing career

Moran was convinced throughout her teenage years that she would become a writer.[4] At the age of 13 in October 1988 she won a Dillons young readers' contest for an essay on Why I Like Books and was awarded £250 of book tokens. At the age of 15, she won The Observer's Young Reporter of the Year.[6] She began her career as a journalist for Melody Maker, the weekly music publication, at the age of 16.[7] Moran also wrote a novel called The Chronicles of Narmo at the age of 16, inspired by having been part of a home-schooled family.

In 1992, she launched her television career, hosting the Channel 4 music show Naked City,[8] which ran for two series and featured a number of then up-and-coming British bands such as Blur, Manic Street Preachers, and the Boo Radleys. Johnny Vaughan co-presented with her on Naked City.

Moran's upbringing inspired her TV drama/comedy series, Raised By Wolves, which began airing in the UK on Channel 4 in December 2013.

In July 2012, Moran became a Fellow of the University of Aberystwyth.[9] In April 2014, she was named as one of Britain's most influential women in the BBC Woman's Hour power list 2014.[10]

In 2014, Moran released her semi-autobiographical novel, How To Build a Girl, set in Wolverhampton in the early 1990s. It is the first of a planned trilogy, to be followed by How To Be Famous, and concluding with How To Change The World.[11]

Feminism

In 2011, Ebury Press published Moran's book How To Be a Woman in the UK. As of July 2012, it had sold over 400,000 copies in 16 countries.[12]

Twitter

Moran is an influential figure on Twitter. In August 2013, she organised a 24-hour boycott of Twitter in protest against the organisation's perceived failure to deal adequately with offensive content posted, sometimes anonymously, on public figures' Twitter feeds.[13]

In 2014, her Twitter feed was recognised for its brevity, impact and register control when it became a controversial addition to the list of English A-Level set texts.[14] In June 2014 the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism reported she was the most influential British journalist on Twitter.[15]

Personal life

In December 1999, Moran married The Times rock critic Peter Paphides in Coventry and the couple have two daughters, born in 2001 and in 2003.[16]

Awards and honors

Bibliography

  • Moran, Caitlin (1992). The Chronicles of Narmo. Corgi. ISBN 0-552-52724-6.
  • Moran, Caitlin (2011). How to Be A Woman. Ebury Press. ISBN 978-0-09-194073-7.
  • Moran, Caitlin (2012). Moranthology. Ebury Press. ISBN 978-0-09-194088-1.
  • Moran, Caitlin (2014). How to Build a Girl. Ebury Press. ISBN 978-0-09-194900-6.

References

  1. ^ Rollman, Hans (12 November 2014). "Caitlin Moran: Lady Sex Pirate and Working Class Hero". PopMatters.
  2. ^ "Press Awards 2011: Caitlin Moran's speech". The Guardian. 6 April 2011.
  3. ^ Aida Edemariam "The Saturday interview: Caitlin Moran", The Guardian, 18 June 2011
  4. ^ a b c d e BBC Radio 4: "My Teenage Diary", First Broadcast 6:30PM Wed, 4 Jul 2012
  5. ^ The Times 2, p2. 28 December 2011
  6. ^ Moran, Caitlin (26 November 2007). "My glorious career? I won it in a competition". The Times. London. Retrieved 24 April 2009. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  7. ^ "Pop on trial". BBC Online. Retrieved 13 January 2010.
  8. ^ Davies, Huer (17 May 1994). "Atrocious mess, precocious mind: Meet Caitlin Moran, newspaper columnist, television presenter, novelist, s<refcreenwriter, pop music pundit … and typical teenage slob". The Independent. London.
  9. ^ Aberystwyth University - July
  10. ^ "Woman's Hour Power List 2014 – Game Changers". BBC Radio 4.
  11. ^ Caitlin Moran explores taboo subjects in her new book 'How to build a girl'. BBC Newsnight. 11 July 2014.
  12. ^ Jen, Doll. "Caitlin Moran on How to Be a Woman, How to Be a Feminist". The Atlantic Wire. Retrieved 16 July 2011.
  13. ^ "#TwitterSilence: Was Caitlin Moran's Twitter boycott an effective form of protest?". The Independent. London. 5 August 2013.
  14. ^ "English A-Level with Russell Brand and Dizzee Rascal on reading list under fire". The Guardian. London. 6 May 2014.
  15. ^ "Mainstream media 'still dominate online news'". BBC News: Technology. BBC. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
  16. ^ Moran, Caitlin (2011). How To Be a Woman. HarperCollins. p. 275. ISBN 9780062124296.
  17. ^ "Cosmo's Ultimate Women of the Year Awards 2011 announced!". Cosmopolitan UK. 4 November 2011.

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