By 2030 it’s predicted that nearly half of women aged 25–44 will be single and without children — a dramatic shift in how we live and love. Forty per cent of UK adults are already single, fewer women are becoming mothers, and many are finding new ways to build home and family: through friendship, community, and chosen kinship.

Women are marrying themselves in sologamy ceremonies. Friends are buying houses together. Single mothers are forming “mommunes” to share the costs and care of raising children. At the same time, younger generations are questioning heterosexuality altogether — embracing boy sobriety or hetero-fatalism, while older women, particularly Gen X, are reporting a sexual renaissance.

We are living through a reimagining of relationships: how we live, who we love, and how we experience sex and intimacy.

In her new book LOVE ME!, Marianne Power explores what a “different happy ever after” might look like. Finding herself ambivalent about the marriage-and-kids path that so many of her friends chose, she asks: can you have great sex as a single woman, and can you experience deep love outside a traditional partnership? Her search takes her from tantra retreats and women’s circles to polyamorous lovers.

Alongside her, Anouchka Grose draws on her psychoanalytic work and her writing on love, sex, and community. An unexpected spokesperson for polyamory on Radio 4, she has visited intentional communities and immersed herself in alternative practices ranging from tantra to animal communication.

Together, they’ll explore the many different ways to live and love in the 21st century.

Marianne Power is a journalist and internationally bestselling author. Her first book, Help Me!, a wry and moving account of her year living by self-help books, was published in 25 countries and became a global hit. Her latest book, LOVE ME!, explores love, sex, and how to create a happy life as a single woman outside traditional frameworks of marriage and motherhood.

Anouchka Grose is a London-based psychoanalyst, writer, and climate campaigner. Her books include Ringing for You: A Love Story With Interruptions (Harper Collins, 1999), No More Silly Love Songs: A Realist’s Guide to Romance (Portobello, 2010), A Guide to Eco-Anxiety: How to Protect the Planet and Your Mental Health (Watkins, 2020), and Fashion: A Manifesto (Notting Hill Editions, 2023). Her forthcoming book is The Revolution Will Be Internalised: On the Unlikely Politics of ‘Inner Prepping’ (Indigo, 2026) . She also writes widely on art and fashion, contributing to The Guardian, Granta, Harper’s Bazaar, Al Jazeera, and BBC Radio 4.

Accessibility

The Old School Rooms are located on the first floor of Clapton Park United Reformed Church. The room is accessible via steps from the street, with an alternate entrance via lift. Seating will be provided for all attendees.

The speakers will use microphones and a small PA system, and the event audio will be recorded and made available as a podcast.

While we await comprehensive venue accessibility information, please contact us with any specific questions or requests and we'll be very happy to help.

Contact the host of Modern Love: Marianne Power in conversation with Anouchka Grose

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