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Will Storr

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For the Scottish solo accordionist, see Will Starr.

Will Storr

Will Storr is a British author, journalist and former photographer.[1][2] He has been a contributing editor at Esquire and GQ Australia.[3][4] He also works as a ghostwriter and public speaker.[5]

Career

[edit]

Storr has written six books under his own name.

His first book, Will Storr versus The Supernatural, was an investigation into people who believe in ghosts. It included a behind-the-scenes exposé of the British television show Most Haunted and an interview with Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican’s chief exorcist. Storr also tracked down Janet Hodgson, who claimed to be the focus of the Enfield Poltergeist haunting in 1977.[6][7]

The Heretics: Adventures with the Enemies of Science (published in the U.S. and Canada as "The Unpersuadables") was an investigation into irrational belief. Storr met creationists in Australia, the climate change denial Lord Christopher Monckton and went undercover on a trip to former World War II sites with a group of holocaust deniers and the revisionist historian David Irving.[8][9]

Storr’s novel The Hunger and the Howling of Killian Lone was an adult fairy tale set in a Michelin starred kitchen in 1980s London.[10][11]

Selfie: How We Became So Self-obsessed and What It's Doing to Us was a history of the Western self. In the book, Storr discusses the rise of social media and its effects, attributing many of the more harmful ones to increased pressure on individuals and what he calls "perfectionistic styles of thinking".[12][13] In 2018 The New Yorker made a short film based on the book.[14]

The Science of Storytelling, was a Sunday Times Bestseller.[15]

The Status Game describes Storr’s theory about the hidden structure of social life, focusing on the need for social status and its effects on individual human life and society.[16]

Storr also works as a ghostwriter. He wrote Ant Middleton’s memoir First Man In that was shortlisted in the 2019 British Book Awards.[17]

Journalism

[edit]

He has covered the South Sudanese Civil War, illegal street racing in the United Kingdom, male suicides, the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda, the abuse of sugar crop workers in El Salvador, and the race-hate killing of an Aboriginal man in Australia.[18][19][20] [21][22] He has written for media outlets including The Guardian, The Observer, The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Times.[23][24][25]

He received a One World Media award,[26] an Amnesty International award for his work regarding sexual violence against men,[27] and an AIB award for Best Investigative Documentary in 2013 for An Unspeakable Act, a BBC World Service documentary covering human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[28][29]

During his reporting in South Sudan Storr was abducted by a militia and narrowly avoided being executed.[30]

He has also been a guest on podcasts including Under The Skin with Russell Brand, The Jordan Harbinger Show, The Ezra Klein Show and The Joe Rogan Experience.[31][32][33][34]

Photography

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His portraits of survivors of the Lord's Resistance Army, a heterodox Christian rebel group, have been exhibited at Oxo Tower.[35][36]

Personal life

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He is married to Farrah Storr.[37] His great-great uncle is the journalist, government reformer and author of the Self-Help, Samuel Smiles.[30]

Selected bibliography

[edit]
  • Will Storr vs. The Supernatural: One Man's Search for the Truth About Ghosts (2006) ISBN 0061132195
  • The Heretics: Adventures With The Enemies Of Science (2013) ISBN 1447208978
  • The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science (2014) ISBN 1468308181
  • The Hunger and the Howling of Killian Lone (2014) ISBN 1476730431
  • Selfie: How We Became So Self-Obsessed and What It's Doing to Us (2017) ISBN 1468315897
  • The Science of Storytelling (2019) ISBN 1419743031
  • The Status Game: On Social Position and How We Use It (2021) ISBN 0008354634

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Gottlieb, Anthony (21 June 2018). "How We Got to Be So Self-Absorbed: The Long Story". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 October 2021.
  2. ^ Illing, Sean (5 October 2021). "The status games we all play". Vox. Vox. Retrieved 17 October 2021.
  3. ^ "The Reading List - The Heretics". esquire.com/. Esquire. 26 February 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2021. Esquire contributing editor Will Storr
  4. ^ Storr, Will (29 August 2017). "Will Storr On Millennials And The Pressure To Be Narcissistic". gq.com.au/. GQ Australia. Retrieved 17 October 2021. GQ contributor and British author, Storr
  5. ^ Heaf, Jonathan (22 October 2018). "Ant Middleton: 'The adrenaline has you so wired it's as if you're in The Matrix'". gq-magazine.co.uk/. GQ Magazine. Retrieved 26 November 2021. a career that he recounts in vivid prose (via journalist Will Storr)
  6. ^ "Will Storr Vs. the Supernatural: One Man's Search for the Truth about Ghosts". publishersweekly.com/. Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  7. ^ ""Will Storr vs. the Supernatural," by Will Storr". seattletimes.com/. The Seattle Times. 22 December 2006. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  8. ^ Miller, Laura (16 March 2014). "From creationism to ESP: Why believers ignore science". salon.com/. Salon.com. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  9. ^ Tudge, Colin (15 February 2013). "The Heretics: Adventures with the Enemies of Science, By Will Storr". independent.co.uk/. The Independent. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  10. ^ "The Hunger and the Howling of Killian Lone". publishersweekly.com/. Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  11. ^ Preston, Alex (16 April 2019). "The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr review – the lure of novel ideas". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  12. ^ Godwin, Richard (4 June 2017). "Books: Selfie — How We Became So Self-Obsessed and What It's Doing to Us by Will Storr". thetimes.co.uk/. The Times. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  13. ^ "Selfie by Will Storr — me, myself and I". ft.com/. Financial Times. 16 June 2017. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  14. ^ Erin Brethauer, Tim Hussin (30 April 2018). Selfie, Millennials, and Narcissism. The New Yorker.
  15. ^ "The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human, and How to Tell Them Better". harpercollins.com.au/. HarperCollins. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  16. ^ Marriott, James (19 August 2021). "The Status Game by Will Storr review — how the fight for status defines our world". thetimes.co.uk/. The Times. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  17. ^ Anderson, Porter (22 March 2019). "The British Book Awards: 2019 Books of the Year Shortlists". publishingperspectives.com/. Publishing Perspectives. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  18. ^ Storr, Will (12 December 2014). "South Sudan the place where dreams turned to dust". theaustralian.com.au. The Australian. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
  19. ^ "Will Storr". penguin.co.uk/. Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  20. ^ Storr, Will (12 January 2014). "Tragedy in Uganda: Joseph Kony massacre survivors tell their stories". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  21. ^ Storr, Will (14 October 2012). "What is killing sugar-cane workers across Central America?". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  22. ^ Storr, Will (3 October 2010). "Australia's dark heart". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  23. ^ "Will Storr". simonandschuster.com/. Simon & Schuster. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  24. ^ Storr, Will (24 August 2018). "The Metamorphosis of the Western Soul". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 October 2021.
  25. ^ Storr, Will (7 July 2016). "A Better Kind of Happiness". The New Yorker. Retrieved 17 October 2021.
  26. ^ McAthy, Rachel (9 May 2012). "Channel 4 scoops three gongs at One World Media Awards". journalism.co.uk/. Journalism.co.uk. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  27. ^ "Will Storr". panmacmillan.com/. Macmillan Publishers. Retrieved 17 October 2021. he was presented with the One World Press award and the Amnesty International award for his work on sexual violence against men,
  28. ^ "AIBs – 2013 Winners and Highly Commended Announced". theaibs.tv. Association for International Broadcasting. 6 November 2013. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
  29. ^ Will Storr (28 July 2012). An Unspeakable Act. Democratic Republic of the Congo: BBC World Service.
  30. ^ a b Storr, Will (2017). Selfie: How the West Became Self-Obsessed. Pan Macmillan. ISBN 1447283678
  31. ^ Russell Brand. "#020 Selfie-Obsession: Can Narcissism Ever Make Us Happy? (with Will Storr)" (Podcast). Under the Skin with Russell Brand. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  32. ^ Jordan Harbinger. "Will Storr - Understanding Social Position and the Status Game" (Podcast). The Jordan Harbinger Show. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  33. ^ Ezra Klein. "Will Storr on why you are not yourself" (Podcast). Vox Conversations. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  34. ^ "Spotify". open.spotify.com. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  35. ^ Pomfret, Emma (12 May 2014). "Life After the Lord's Resistance Army". New Internationalist. Retrieved 17 October 2021.
  36. ^ "Will Storr". janklowandnesbit.co.uk/. Janklow & Nesbit. Retrieved 17 October 2021.
  37. ^ Austin, Ellie (17 March 2019). "Relative Values: Cosmopolitan editor Farrah Storr and her author husband Will on falling in love with your best friend". The Times. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
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