Claire Malcolm

Image shows the writer Zadie Smith with a quote: ""Class is a complicated thing. It’s not about money or job title. It’s something more slippery, something less tangible. But there’s no getting away from the fact that, when you grow up working-class, you’re constantly aware of the ways in which you are different from people with money, people who don’t have to think about where their next meal is coming from."

The Working Class Library Episode 4: Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson Richard and Claire are joined by novelist Sarah Hall to consider Flora Thompson’s memoir Lark Rise to Candleford.

We wanted to do this book in our Working Class Library podcast for a long time, and we were very pleased that the novelist Sarah Hall could join us – one of the best writers in on wc rural life out there.

Listen on your favourite platforms or here: thebeemagazine.com/the-working-...

Best of luck, important for us all to keep this a live topic.

“You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.” ~Ray Bradbury

Keep reading, friends. 📚

mailchi.mp/rtyds/invite... hi - I'm afraid I can't help with actors but was sent info about this which might be of interest.

Jenny Knight’s in Ascendence The award-winning working-class writer’s debut novel treats female desire and relationships with incredible honesty and originality. We caught up with her to talk sex, ambition – and the solace of gar...

"“Having been raised by women who fought for equality, and that famous 90s ‘women can have it all’ lie," says @jennyknight.bsky.social, "Women now actually want to see it in action.”

The Bee in conversation with the top-notch working-class novelist🐝🐝

Mark Gatiss, the boy that Dr Who books made The League of Gentlemen star and creator of Bookish on his work, snobbery in the arts, and advice for working-class writers.

Often mistaken for a middle-class Oxbridge graduate, much to his annoyance. In fact a great champion of working-class talent, and supporter of what we're trying to do. This interview seems to have pleasantly surprised a few people, hope you enjoy it:

Class & the Health Lottery Why can’t all the fat, lazy, poor people be as healthy and successful as right-wing political commentators?

We're proud to publish @darrenmcgarvey.bsky.social on the UK's health lottery & why health inequality is a political choice.

Right now there's a lot of bogus blaming in the news that distracts from real issues like this.

This is an honest assessment, based on real experience.

A photo of a copy of the 1991 reprint of the Virago Modern Classics edition of Angel by Elizabeth Taylor. The cover art is "A Portrait of Madame Lacroix" by Giovanni Baldini.

"She had never cared much for books, because they did not seem to be about her, and she thought she would rather write a book herself, to a pattern of her own choosing and about a beautiful young girl with a startling white skin, heiress to a great property, wearing white piqué at Osborne..."

The spectre of Grenfell haunts my family’s area Growing up in inner-city London, I know that the fire was a manifestation of decades of systemic contempt for the area’s immigrant and working-class residents.

Looking back on the eighth anniversary of the Grenfell tragedy, with this piece by Elias Suhail, a local, who was on our Writing Chance programme:

www.newstatesman.com/culture/a-wr...

‘The risk was worth it’: All Fours author Miranda July on sex, power and giving women permission to blow up their lives The artist and author’s hit book had so much in common with her own life that even her friends forgot it wasn’t real. How did this revolutionary portrayal of midlife desire come to inspire a generatio...

Brilliant interview with an extraordinary artist about a culture shifting novel that should have won the Women's Prize.

www.theguardian.com/film/2025/ju...

Well done @mcsweeneys.net - perfect summary of romantic movies 😂

New Grub Street by George Gissing The Working Class Library · Episode

Enjoyed Ep 1 of @clairemalcolm.bsky.social & Richard Benson's 'The Working-Class Library' podcast. It was fascinating to listen to Professor Simon James discuss George's Gissing's 'The New Grub Street'. Looking forward to reading it - & listening to more episodes!
open.spotify.com/episode/3gjN...

So glad you enjoyed it Louise and thanks for spreading the word.

The International Booker Prize 2025 Ceremony Livestream YouTube video by The Booker Prizes

If you do one thing today please listen to Max Porter's speech - a rallying cry for the free movement of books and ideas www.youtube.com/live/_OFR6ey...

The Working Class Library Podcast · New Writing North · The Working Class Library is The Bee’s podcast. Each month Richard Benson, editor of The Bee, and Claire Malcolm, CEO of New Writing North, invite a writer to discuss a b...

I have a new podcast! Brought to you by @beelitmag.bsky.social - The Working Class Library open.spotify.com/show/7lu7Hzn...

Congratulations Stu! Excellent work.

We're launching The Bee magazine today because the UK publishing and writing industries have a bit of a class problem.

Confessions of Nothing How I invented a revolutionary mascara technique at the age of seven, my mum’s lack of appreciation of which still troubles me to this day.

Read Nosa’s short memoir Confessions of Nothing, about discovering, aged seven, a revolutionary mascara technique that her mum failed to appreciate, here: thebeemagazine.com/confessions-...

We’re un-bee-lieveably delighted to congratulate Nosa Novia, whose story Confessions of Nothing we published yesterday, on being longlisted for the @womensprize.bsky.social 2025 Discoveries prize.

UK-wide initiative launched to tackle marginalisation of working-class writers New Writing North’s literary venture The Bee includes magazine and podcast, and is supported by Michael Sheen

UK-wide initiative launched by @newwritingnorth.bsky.social @clairemalcolm.bsky.social to tackle marginalisation of working-class writers. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...

Come and hear Adelle and I discussing 80's hair and big life stories.

Hello world, glad to be here!