Laura Barton

Biography

Barton was born in and grew up in the village of Newburgh in Lancashire, and was educated at Winstanley College and read for an English degree at Worcester College, Oxford. Following graduation, she began writing for The Guardian from 2000 specialising in writing features. She has also written for Q magazine, The Word, and Intelligent Life, and broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Much of her writing relates to rock and pop music, and until late 2011 she wrote a fortnightly column about music for The Guardians Film and Music supplement, called "Hail, Hail, Rock and Roll", as well as a weekly column on women's issues for the newspaper's G2 supplement, called "The View from a Broad".

Her novel, Twenty-One Locks (2010), recounts the story of "a young small-town girl facing the biggest decision of her life." Carol Birch, reviewing it in The Independent, said "Too much grim-up-north trowel-laying mars Laura Barton's otherwise promising first novel. ... Wonderful writing - but it's hard to engage with such a passively selfish central character." Also in the Independent Rob Sharp wrote "When she lets her words flow they become rhythmic; most of them, however, are painstakingly chiselled." and finishes "I look forward to Barton's second [book]." Rosamund Urwin of Evening Standard says "But while well-rendered, the book feels light on ideas. Twenty-One Locks could have been a short story rather than a novel."

Barton worked with photographer Sarah Lee on a photo-essay West of West: Travels along the edge of America, which was published by Unbound (2020, ) and featured in The Guardian and The New York Review of Books. Her memoir Sad Songs is to be published by Quercus books under its riverrun imprint on 1 May 2025 ().

She made a three-part series Notes on Music for BBC Radio 4 in 2021, discussing the ages of seventeen in music, "happy sad songs", and Bruce Springsteen.

Barton has said she is working on a second novel and a non-fiction book about music. A series of short stories about Northern soul was broadcast on Radio 4 in 2011.

Barton married in 2004. She subsequently divorced.

References

References

1. Barton, Laura. (23 November 2009). "Lady Ashton went to my school". [[The Guardian]].
2. Thwaite, Mark. (5 August 2010). "Interview: Laura Barton".
3. Birch, Carol. (13 October 2011). "Twenty-One Locks, By Laura Barton". [[The Independent]].
4. Sharp, Rob. (25 July 2010). "Rimbaud: first blood". [[The Independent]].
5. Urwin, Rosamund. (8 July 2010). "Jeannie's dream of escape". [[Evening Standard]].
6. (4 April 2018). "West of West: Santa Monica pier and 'the end of America' - a photo essay". The Guardian.
7. (22 February 2020). "Way Out West". The New York Review of Books.
8. (3 April 2021). "The week in audio: Laura Barton's Notes on Music; The Crisis – review". The Guardian.
9. (27 August 2004). "TFT Meets... Laura Barton".
10. Barton, Laura. (24 December 2017). "'The last time I went home for Christmas was five years ago. I was a terrible guest'". [[The Guardian]].