Katy Guest



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Journals/Organisation: The Independent | The Independent on Sunday

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Networks: https://twitter.com/katyguest36912 | http://www.linkedin.com/pub/katy-guest/11/733/3b9



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Career: The Independent on Sunday: deputy literary editor, 2007/2009; literary editor, 2009-

Current position/role: Literary editor


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Articles 2013:

 * Don't eat sprouts if you'd rather not - It's only early December and already I am sick of supermarkets getting all confused about the meaning of Christmas - 8th December
 * It's feminism not masculism, why Amazon is cheap, feline charms and why some things should stay private - As an equalist, I see equal access to parental leave as an essential first step to true equality - 1st December
 * Go on, really shock me! Show me your cardie - When David Dimbleby revealed his new scorpion tattoo last week, there were those who rolled their eyes and implored the 75-year-old to act his age - 17th November
 * Marks & Spencer: Your average customer does not look like Rosie Huntington-Whiteley - There are excuses, and there are M&S excuses - 10th November
 * The “Bechdel Test” for Swedish films: Welcome to the modern world, where women speak about more than just men - Shakespeare might fail the test too - but we're not in the 1500s anymore - 8th November 2013
 * Let's check out of this supermarket swizz - It's not often that a major supermarket admits out loud how it tricks us - 27th October
 * Going easy on parking tickets? At last, a victory for the oppressed driver - For too long councils have bathed in cash from this wronged demographic - 24th October
 * There's a Morrissey and a Ruby in every office - Like one of those small-town Indian restaurants with a faded sign in its window boasting "Health & Hygiene Certificate: Bronze", Morrissey's Autobiography has been launched upon an unsuspecting and largely uninterested public amid a flurry of qualified superlatives and hollow brags - 20th October
 * Why do I think these uncomfortable thoughts? - I was thinking a lot this summer about armpits. You do, if you're a feminist - 13th October
 * Mix hip hop with Shakespeare? Why ever not? - Thank goodness one brave speaker at the Tory conference had the guts to stand up and identify something in today's society that is "positively evil" and a blight on inner-city kids - 6th October
 * Smokers, what's hard is seeing a loved one die early - If aliens were secretly watching the Earth, there are many things that would puzzle them - 29th September
 * As Tube users know, snogging is the least of it - 22nd September
 * So did Sarah Teather need to be a parent to be families' minister? - Tim Loughton's attack says more about his own character than anything else - 18th September
 * Bullying has left the playground and joined the currency of adult life but Twitter is an insult too far - Shocking reaction of grown-ups on Twitter to a teenage girl whose behaviour at school is charted in a fly-on-the-wall documentary - 15th September
 * A religious leader with a message of tolerance? Well, fancy that! - When we think of all the other silly mistakes that could have been avoided if only the Pope had spoken up sooner, it is really quite frustrating - 13th September
 * I've got the measure of high street shops - Lose five dress sizes in two minutes on my amazing Leave H&M And Go to M&S Instead Diet! - 8th September
 * Got a recipe to use up furry blue bread, Jamie? - Here's a surprising thing about last week's Jamie Oliver fiasco - 1st September
 * Benefits fantasies, pippins fit for a prince, honest reading, and a tip - IDS has been trying to justify welfare cuts, Prince George has been given an apple tree and many staff are on zero-hours contracts at Amazon... - 4th August
 * Pay to see our GP? We already do - Counting the cost of GP visits, stand-up diets and stupid hair - 28th July
 * Maria Miller vs the BBC: Tackling sexism in sports coverage is quite the set of hurdles - The Minister for Women and Equalities will have her work cut out - 19th July 2013
 * Reading a dull book? Put it down this instant! - One of the best pieces of advice my English teacher ever gave me – one which I would like to shar..... - 14th July 2013
 * Church is in sickness, but marriage is in health - A couple found out recently that the devil does not have all the best words - 7th July 2013
 * Female reviewers: The Mystery of the Vanishing Women - Are you a woman? Can you read and write? - 23rd June 2013
 * Television dads and a a crisis of masculinity: At least Daddy Pig gets to keep his clothes on - It's official: Peppa is the most evil pig in Britain. And not just for jumping in puddles - 16th June
 * Nepotism? I blame the children - James Caan knows as much about social mobility as the ministers who employed him - 9th June 2013
 * Every woman in the land is secretly Mrs Darcy - I came home from work unexpectedly early the other day - 2nd June 2013
 * Wear low-slung jeans? Radio 1 is your station - Nick Grimshaw has been taking some flak after his Breakfast Show lost nearly a million listeners - 19th May 2013
 * There's no such thing as the wrong sort of book - Good old Tories, astutely tapping into the real fears faced by modern parents about the dangerous..... - 12th May 2013
 * If your colleagues irritate you, you're not alone - I don't want to worry anyone, but all the news suggests that we are a nation permanently on the edge of a nervous breakdown - 5th May 2013
 * Cycling, like politics, is not for wimps - Uh oh, watch out: the Government is "encouraging" something - 28th April 2013
 * The social trend that it's OK to hate - Perhaps this has not been the most representative week in the media, but did you know that there have been 51 articles in the British press in the past seven days with the word "hate" in the headline? - 21st April 2013
 * Nick Clegg's NHS is no good if you've got a life - And still he goes on, the masochistic Mr Clegg - 14th April 2013
 * Women who eat cakes wear clothes too - Last week saw the launch of yet another BBC series which seems designed to take off in a country that boasts seven different shades of middle class - 7th April 2013
 * Why it's 'Hello' to Mum and 'Wossup?' to mates - A novel published tomorrow explores, according to its publisher, "the changing nature of personal identity in the age of social media" - 30th March 2013
 * Why is the book refusing to die? Can't it read? - The literary world had its own "white smoke moment" last week - 17th March 2013
 * Since when did we apologise for morality? - There are lots of reasons why people go into politics: the green leather benches; the comedy... - 10th March 2013
 * All the way to Mars with only one loo... - I'm all for using the scientific method in most things - 3rd March 2013
 * Love means having no room for 'romance' - It's still too soon to be properly certain, but this weekend is looking likely to be a good one - 17th February 2013
 * Couples don't need MPs preaching about love - There's a 1913 Suffragette poster at the V&A museum in London, which I first saw on the wall of a brilliant feminist academic who tutored me at Cambridge - 10th February 2013
 * You can't judge a cover by its book - As Ted Hughes learnt just a little too late, you mess with Sylvia Plath fans at your peril - 3rd February 2013
 * Can't help with world peace: I've chipped a nail - It's a wonder that women manage to get through the week at all when we are beset by all of these very gender-specific worries - 27th January 2013
 * Surly Hurley and the muddle that is fame - Those of us who support women and hate the idea of fame often wonder if certain celebrities are getting an unfair press - 20th January 2013
 * Supermarkets trade in mediocrity and waste - I wish I knew who they were, these supermarket customers who ruin it for everyone - 13th January 2013
 * The world of letters is another male preserve - Let's have a round of applause for Bryan Talbot, the only man on the "all-women" shortlist for the 2012 Costa Prize - 6th January 2013



Articles 2012:

 * Who cares about hard-working singles? - Now that the Government has come around to the idea of gay marriage, it's time to accept the remaining taboo group - 16th December 2012
 * A happy office runs on gossip and tears - A friend of a friend of mine knew someone who knew someone who used to hang out with the beat poet..... - 9th December 2012
 * How to shop: go out, buy stuff, go home. Easy - This year, I will mostly be doing my Christmas shopping in shops - 2nd December 2012
 * After the Pink List, the social media deluge - We said when we published The IoS Pink List last week that we hoped it would surprise - 11th November 2012
 * If only hard books are good, Austen is rubbish - Whatever the latest odds on the Man Booker Prize, the only thing that's certain is that the judges definitely won't get it right on Tuesday - 14th October 2012
 * I'm straight and about to get married - how much sweeter a deal if opportunities were equal - Lots of things that make marriage less meaningful now than it was in, say, the 1950s. But allowing all adult couples to take part could never be one - 10th October 2012
 * Thanks, Lukas, for your transport of delight - It was Loelia Ponsonby, and not Margaret Thatcher, who said that "a man who, beyond the age of 30..... - 7th October 2012
 * The Curse of the Publisher's Hype - Reviews of The Casual Vacancy were strictly embargoed until its publication on Thursday, and, in the absence of a book, much of the criticism focused on Rowling's politics, her refusal to give interviews, her giving too many interviews, and the embargo itself - 30th September 2012
 * Season of mists and new polyester skirts - Katy Guest is trying to be pleased that autumn has arrived - 9th September 2012
 * I used to like Facebook. How did it all go wrong? - The social networking site has dived in value, and seems to have lost its way. Our writer is one of those worried that their privacy has been invaded - 19th August 2012
 * Gloriously gritty, we Tykes... - The highs - and highs - of our life-changing Olympic Games - 12th August 2012
 * Olympic London thrills me - It's win, win, win for the capital, a nicer place overnight - 5th August 2012
 * Why don't men take a stand against wearing a tie? - The recent photograph of the four ex-prime ministers meeting the Queen showed a particular example of the British idea of dressing for summer - 29th July 2012
 * There are 24 hours a day, and women get one - When people complain about programmes such as Woman's Hour, they usually make the argument that there is no such thing as an "Hour for Men" - 22nd July 2012
 * Rings signal messages, not all of them good - 15th July 2012
 * Hair power is just another load of old follicles - 8th July 2012
 * Sorry about the naff gift, Dad, but it's all your own fault - What you like is jokes, a sit down, and sausages for tea - 17th June 2012
 * Those pesky diet ads are as irritating as midges - I tried a little experiment on Facebook the other day - 10th June 2012
 * I've read the future, and it doesn't work (or smell nice) - I took my new ebook reader on holiday recently. Now there's a sentence I never expected to write - 3rd June 2012
 * If you work from home, it's safer to keep your clothes on - When 50,000 civil servants were told last week that they should work from home for the duration of the Olympics, I imagine their first thought was how relieved they'll be to avoid all that annoying office etiquette - 20th May 2012
 * Women's insecurity is nobody's business but their own - Let me make it clear from the outset that I am not going to write about Samantha Brick - 8th April 2012
 * Pooches off my postie, you dog-lovers - Katy Guest leaps to the defence of Britain's chewed postal workers - 18th March 2012
 * How to succeed in retail: sell good stuff, politely. Er, that's it - Mary Portas spent seven months writing her exhaustive, 50-page report on how to save the nation's high streets, so I am pleased to inform the Government and retailers that I can tell shops how to save themselves in the next 700 words - 1st January 2012



Articles 2011:

 * 'Sorry' is glib. This apology means more -Without the S word, Minchin shows true intent - 30th October 2011
 * Renting a flat? Choose your agent carefully - A call for regulation of lucrative property letting - 16th October 2011
 * have a code, and they are not alone, BTW'' - Look away now, all of you who thought that SMOG was an acronym for a society of geeks called the Secret Masters of Gaming - 7th August 2011
 * bullies need a lesson in respect and compassion'' - One of the questions that I have about parenting is: how would you cope if you found out your child was a bully? - 31st July 2011
 * on a doctor who leads teenage girls to eat badly'' - There was an alarming story in last week's papers about the findings of a Department of Health report on eating habits - 24th July 2011
 * Kenco. Pass the sick bag, Keeley'' - Rich, perfect, and oh, so annoying. Our writer is aiming her quiche - 12th June 2011
 * your abacus away, Ms Spelman'' - Our writer recoils from the costing of nature's bounty - 5th June 2011
 * couples love, honour... and bankrupt the guests'' - Are you already depressed by the wedding fever - 17th April 2011
 * next for the Camerons – Primark?'' - When Sam and Dave chose a no-frills flight, it was good value for all - 10th April 2011
 * you, this day, your very own split infinitive...'' - From beer to grammar, mother knows best - 3rd April 2011
 * markings on a taxi don't mean a thing'' - Women in cabs need to trust the driver, not the livery - 27th March 2011
 * there an app for avoiding all techies?'' - The appeal of a private life with no unwanted help - 20th March 2011
 * letters and other let-downs'' - Our writer laments the lingering loss of literary mystique - 30th January 2011



Articles 2010:

 * come, all ye faithful, join my new religion'' - Most people will be working on their new year's resolutions this week as they frenziedly do all the things they are about to resolve not to do, in the brief but magical late-December window in which there are no such things as calories, and the booze fairies are looking after our livers - 26th December 2010
 * wish you a merry Solstice. Or whatever...'' - Light of the world or warmth in the gloom? Our writer on Pagans - 19th December 2010
 * apologise, always explain'' - One of modern life's stranger phenomena is the weird paradox of knowing that the majority of people do something, but finding that you don't know anybody who does it - 5th December 2010
 * do it with a mobile phone'' - Our writer has no sympathy for men caught sex texting - 21st November 2010
 * not to reply? No – courtesy is leaving me alone'' - Last week, I received approximately 1,000 emails. Probably about a fifth of these were offering me something - 31st October 2010
 * was bullied, and it does get better'' - She is moved by a YouTube plea to prevent gay suicides - 17th October 2010
 * hail Ikea, god of storage and sideplates'' - Our writer joins the faithful in search of lighting solutions - 10th October 2010
 * name is Katy, and I suffer from AGPS Jealousy Disorder'' - Figures are not yet in on how many couples have survived the long wet summer holidays together, but the latest publication from the Department for Spurious Statistics - 19th September 2010
 * wins again (that's the women's team, of course)'' - A rare mix of sporting prowess, honesty and modesty - 5th September 2010
 * dancing is seedy – but it's hard to say why'' - One of the reassuring things about being an educated, liberal, thirtysomething feminist is that there aren't many things that one isn't really sure about - 29th August 2010
 * will you marry me (or maybe not)?'' - Teaching Robbie Williams a proposal trick or two - 15th August 2010
 * you won't go north, Mr Salmon, bags I your chips'' - When I was asked to write about the top 10 reasons why the North is just as good as the South, my first reaction was "as good?" and my second was "only 10?" - 1st August 2010
 * pair up just for Britain's sake. Nick tried that ...'' - Hats off again to the University of the Blindingly Obvious for bringing us the latest sums regarding single people - 25th July 2010
 * set and match to Laura Robson'' - Wimbledon’s fathead tennis commentators - 4th July 2010
 * off our teenagers. We need the shopping done'' - It's not fair. Nobody understands. Life as a teenager is rubbish. They didn't ask to be born - 27th June 2010
 * tall skinny latte to go, then we'll crack world peace'' - It is one of life's most enraging paradoxes that the most stressful ritual of the day, purchasing the morning coffee, has to happen before one has had the morning coffee - 6th June 2010
 * passion-killer: flesh-coloured tights'' - A lot of people wouldn't think it to look at me, but every now and then there comes along a fashion moment that really cheers me up. Not in the traditional run-out-and-buy-it way, of course. But because you've got to celebrate anything that persuades young and pretty people deliberately to make themselves look uglier - 9th May 2010
 * about me behind my back, but make it good'' - When the 11-year Big Brother phenomenon finally limps to an end this summer, it will have left us with several abiding legacies. Some of these are positive, such as the knowledge that we can always vote for the underdog/outsider/weirdo and really wind up the Daily Mail - 2nd May 2010
 * this ash is bunging up my moral compass'' - Now that the volcanic ash is finally settling on the surreal week that will forever be known (because we can't pronounce the alternative) as the crazy Icelandic volcano fiasco, we can begin to identify the Eyjafjallajökull winners and losers - 25th April 2010
 * customer is always right – but you'd never guess'' - There is one election issue that is neglected by all the parties, but which I'm sure would win votes. It's a simple new law that could make a huge difference to so many lives. It would regulate the behaviour of businesses and can best be illustrated using the examples below - 11th April 2010
 * the Today programme, Ceri love, not The Ice Age'' - Employing women need not end in tears - 4th April 2010
 * doing God after all, and it's my idea of hell'' - It is interesting that Alastair Campbell, the man who famously doesn't "do God" (except when it suits him), mentioned Psalm 56 when he wrote on his blog last week about the Iraq inquiry - 17th January 2010
 * Great Grit Conspiracy, and other joyful ideas'' - As if it weren't upsetting enough that we're buried up to our necks in rapidly freezing snow and there's a grit crisis looming in time for Monday morning, a new survey from International Living magazine has made the insulting assertion that it's comparatively pretty rubbish to live in Britain - 10th January 2010



Articles 2009:

 * a bunk-up's your bag, Tiger, why tie the knot?'' - According to Tiger Woods, who has not been true to his own values and the behaviour his family deserves, he tells us, there is one "important and deep principle at stake" in the debacle surrounding his marital "transgressions" - 6th December 2009
 * shipping forecast: cocoa for the ears'' - Never mind mariners, poets and popstars need it - 29th November 2009
 * sing, really annoying... Jedward are bound to win'' - For every trash culture format in our post-postmodern, multimedia world, there are at least two ways in which one can choose to view it - 8th November 2009
 * in a coracle, and other social gaffes'' - Remember a time when things were simpler? When rules were rules, mummy knew best, and everyone knew why you had to eat fish on a Friday? - 1st November 2009
 * brand of vaccine is a false economy'' - Young women are confused about their jabs - 4th October 2009
 * suck on a poached pig's bum'' - It’s tripe to suggest TV chefs help us to cook - 20th September 2009
 * know junk when I eat it. And hear it'' - An organic trader's confession is not to my taste - 9th August 2009
 * flu? Moi? Groaning is just what I do anyway'' - Before I even begin to write about swine flu, I want to make it very clear that I am not going to have it. I decided, early on, that it is a ridiculous disease - 2nd August 2009
 * Old Etonians! Our cokeheads need a moral example - In my self-righteous earlier years, my reply to anyone who offered me cocaine was: "No thanks; I'm boring enough already." It was usually met with a laugh, followed by a perplexed expression and after that a really boring evening. People I liked would become people to avoid in the time it took to roll up a tenner - 26th July 2009
 * Funny, bizarre and brilliantly British... - It isn't often that you see the potter Grayson Perry in a crowded public square, looking fabulous in a big flouncy skirt and a little bolero jacket, and nobody is looking at him - 8th July 2009
 * Nostalgia is the coming thing - The one thing that will symbolise our retro-fest era is band reunions - 3rd July 2009
 * It's the tourists I feel sorry for - A day later and Michelle Obama would have seen London at its worst - 11th June 2009
 * The show ain't over till the fat lady slims - As with celebrity marriages and break-ups and other famous flashes in the pan, if you turn your back on the world of classical music, it seems, everything changes before you can say "Rimsky-Korsakov" - 17th May 2009
 * Urban Notebook: What your favourite book says about you - Admitting publicly to the things that move you is daunting, so it can't have been easy for Film Club to persuade celebrities to disclose movies that changed their lives - 8th May 2009
 * Literacy is not reading. It's a form of mining - I recently had the opportunity, while dodging poshies at the Oxford/Cambridge boat race, to talk to a friend who studied science while I was an English student at university. He was one of those who delighted in telling me when we were both 21: "You'll never get a job reading books, you know." - 12th April 2009
 * If you're angry and you know it, lob a stiletto at someone... - It worked for an Iraqi journalist and anti-war protester, so why not a tired and emotional celeb? - 12th April 2009
 * Guy's girls: The links that lead to love... - 5th April 2009
 * Funny guys are fun? Thanks for telling me - Katy Guest applauds research that tells her what she really likes - 5th April 2009
 * Spare us the public displays of tonsil hockey - A friend once told me that there is nothing wrong with snogging on the Tube, since snogging is not officially a sexual act. It is if you're doing it right, I told him - 22nd March 2009
 * Shame on the rich who refuse to give to charity - You know what it's like when you come late to a wedding list and all that is left on the happy couple's wish list is an item of cleaning equipment and a dining room table costing £5,000? Then spare a thought for the guests of Mr and Mrs Rooney - 15th March 2009
 * Young enough to have a ball, old enough to know how - 32 is the perfect age. But is time running out? - 1st February 2009
 * Pancakes worth waiting for - I'm just not the kind of girl who gets taken to the Fat Duck in Bray - 27th January 2009
 * Urban Notebook: Spare me all the New Year advice - Put down the Ryvita and listen to the geniuses with the white mice''] - 6th January 2009



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