Congratulations to Lisa McInerney, who has just won the 2016 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction with her first novel The Glorious Heresies. At an awards ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall at London’s Southbank Centre chair of judges Margaret Mountford presented McInerney with the £30,000 prize and the Bessie, a limited edition bronze figurine. Margaret Mountford gave a fascinating insight into the judging process. “After a passionate discussion around a very ...keep reading
Cecelia Ahern is only 33 but she already has 11 novels to her name. She’s sold 22 million books around the world and her first novel, PS. I Love You, was made into a movie starring Gerard Butler and Hilary Swank. Now her second novel, Where Rainbows End, has been turned into Love, Rosie, with Lily Collins and Sam Claflin as the lead characters. Ahead of its release, Grazia magazine ...keep reading
It’s hard to believe that a whole ten years have flashed by since Lauren Weisberger wrote The Devil Wears Prada, the fictionalised account of her time as an editorial assistant at US Vogue. And it’s seven years since Meryl Streep immortalised glacial New York editor Miranda Priestly on the big screen. Now Weisberger has written the sequel. Revenge Wears Prada was published this week and on a warm summer’s night ...keep reading
There’s a great interview in this week’s Grazia with Yvette Cooper, who as well as being the shadow home secretary is married to shadow chancellor Ed Balls and has three children between the ages of eight and thirteen. The best thing of all about the piece (written by Gaby Hinsliff) is that it gives a vivid glimpse of life in a hectic household, where two high-flying politicians are juggling about ...keep reading
Glossy magazines have always been a big part of my life. My mum started her career as a feature writer for Woman’s Mirror, a weekly magazine in the Sixties, and I can vividly remember the day she met me from primary school brandishing a tall retro coffee pot in her hand. She’d bought it with the proceeds of her first magazine commission and she was SO proud. So was I ...keep reading
I’m a big fan of Grazia. The magazine’s target reader is probably a chic 20-something fashionista with legs up to her armpits so I must be one of Grazia’s oldest and least stylish fans – but what the hell, I love its eclectic mix of fashion, showbiz, news and culture. And this week’s edition is a corker. As well as discussing whether girls should be taught to put careers before motherhood ...keep reading
“Have I ever been an embarrassing parent?” I asked my son the other day. “Quite often,” he muttered with feeling. He then proceeded to list everything I’d done to show him up, from the day I fell off a fairground roundabout (stone-cold sober, I hasten to add) to all the times I’d insisted on staying to watch him ride his bike at the skate park. I pretended I wasn’t with ...keep reading
Soon after the coalition government was formed David Cameron and Nick Clegg announced their intention to delay morning cabinet meetings so they could help with the school run. But in this week’s Grazia interview the PM said he doesn’t take his two school-aged children to school as much as he used to, though he does try and do it once a week. “…every morning there are priority meetings and phone ...keep reading
Tuesday is my favourite day of the week. Why? Because a loud thump on the doormat signals the arrival of the latest issue of Grazia. I subscribed to the magazine a few years back, ostensibly for my student daughter. But in truth I love its heady mix of news, reviews and fashion just as much as she does. I’m supposed to be writing a book review right now but couldn’t ...keep reading