Born in the Waikato and raised in Sheffield, UK writer, journalist and critic Catherine Taylor returns to her birth country to share with us her wildly evocative memoir The Stirrings — an evocative, unforgettable memoir of love, violence, anger, feminism, PULP gigs, and the thrills and terrors of youth. Joined by host Cherie Jacobson, the two will speak to the many varied aspects of the book, both personal and political, including North of England in the 1970s and 80s.

The Stirrings is the 2024 winner of the Times Literary Supplement Ackerley Prize, the UK’s only literary prize dedicated to memoir and autobiography. Catherine will be signing copies of the book available to purchase from Unity Books.

Winner of the Times Literary Supplement Ackerley Prize 2024
‘A pleasure and a shock' EIMEAR MCBRIDE
‘Here is prose operating at the level of a lethal instrument’ – NEW ZEALAND LISTENER
‘Will speak to all of us' GUARDIAN

About the author:
Catherine Taylor (UK) is a freelance writer, editor and critic who contributes regularly to the Guardian, Financial Times, Times Literary Supplement and other media. Born in Waikato, Aotearoa New Zealand to a Kiwi mother and British father, she grew up in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Formerly publisher at The Folio Society and deputy director of English PEN, her memoir The Stirrings: Coming of Age in Northern Time, was published in 2023, and was recently awarded the TLS Ackerley Prize for memoir and life-writing.

Photo credit: Axel Hesslenberg