US cover for Lean Cat, Savage Cat =}

Wait, what so the UK's new age verification laws mean you can't DM other users if you haven't uploaded yr ID?

Making my debut for @autostraddle.bsky.social this wk with a piece about il papa. What a busy month! www.autostraddle.com/pope-francis...

If you're a UK writer wanting to show solidarity with the trans community, please do sign and share this. Thanks 🧡 docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Wrote what is shaping up to be my most successful substack so far.... laurenjohnjoseph.substack.com/p/s-t-a-u-n-...

Making my debut for Vittles this wk =} www.vittlesmagazine.com/p/break-my-f...

I wrote about attending an audience with Pope Francis for my substack this week. There's audio and it's free so why not TRY SOME??? laurenjohnjoseph.substack.com/p/goin-banan...

I reviewed STAGE DANCE this week, one of my fave reads so far this year. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...

West Papua’s Indigenous people have called for a boycott of KitKat, Smarties and Aero chocolate, Oreo biscuits & Ritz crackers, and the cosmetics brands Pantene and Herbal Essences, over alleged ecocide in their territory. All are products that contain palm oil. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

Is Chimamanda Adichie stil transphobic?

It's Purim and things are getting LIT in Stamford Hill. The klezmer bangers and the jazzy hats, plus all the little ones dressed up in the streets.

I saw Cate Blanchett in The Seagull recently and she was so good I had to share this! laurenjohnjoseph.substack.com/p/cate-blanc...

Each step of publishing feels like the worst, until you come to the next whip *really* is the worst. Currently copy editing. What a horror.

Overheard two baristas yesterday describing themselves as "two bisexual queens in their straight era, unfortunately." Felt very life imitating art, with the art here being TikTok comedians doing skits on communicating with Gen Z .

I wrote about Soft Core for the Observer this wk. I loved it, and you will too =} www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...

Nigella's on Bluesky, how fab, I'll stay! @nigella.bsky.social

How many more decades of fucking ABRACADABRA OOOH LALA are we to suffer through?

This wk I wrote a 4k substack, two book reviews, filled out a 5 page author questionnaire and recorded two scripts for the Royal Literary Fund's podcast. Sometimes it can feel like you are achieving nothing as a writer, but often when you look at what you've actually achieved it's pretty impressive.

Quite often when you pick up a novel written say before the 1990s characters might converse or quote in foreign languages - a bit of Latin or a few lines of French. Now if you use a word that you wouldn't hear on an episode of RHOBH you'll be shredded so hard for being pretentious.

Writing so much rn, book reviews, a new novel and my substack, that I hardly have time for my real work of scrolling through social media alternately scaring myself silly and crushing on all the t-boys.

I'm reviewing for the Guardian and the Observer pretty regularly these days. So if you have a title for May '25 on plz lmk. Particularly interested in queer/trans literary fiction, not genre or YA. Thanks!

Body doubling is real!

Gatsby but from the perspective of the swimming pool.

In Search of Lost Time but from the perspective of the madeleine.

Moby Dick but like, from the perspective of the whale. Have we had that yet?

I love PLR =} It's so heartwarming to see how many ppl borrow (my) books from the library. And at 11p a pop! Which is 100x what music streams pay.

Why is everyone is Chicago so sexy????

I've had an eye infection all wk and OBVIOUSLY cannot see a Dr or even a pharmacist about it. The receptionist at the optician gave me some advice tho, when he called to cancel my appointment. He explained he wasn't a professional but knew what to do. Peer to peer info sharing is what'll save us.

I need recommendations for great places to eat in Rome. Over by the Vatican (obviously).

And the first grant application of the year is in!!!!

Two weeks ago I was on a delayed train. The past fortnight has been the most thrilling of my life as I set out to overcome every lost password, error message and chat bot in a bid to secure my refund of £16.25. Today I am one step closer.

New book on the horizon, so I'd say it's time to get serious about the next.

My waxing lady was off for 4 wks and boy did she have her work cut out for her!!!!

I had the real true pleasure of reviewing MY TENDER MATADOR in the wk which marks 10 yrs since the death of the great Pedro Lemebel. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...

We are the grand daughters of the women you couldn't persuade to watch Seinfeld.

Give that Bishop a chat show, already. Or at least a podcast.

Anyway now I can't stop humming "Father Figure" so good for me I guess.

I liked Babygirl just fine, but I just could not get over Nicole Kidman's shoeography. She's in sneakers and (horrid) flats when she's nice but heels when she's all trollopy. What she really needed was a nice pair of Gucci loafers, perhaps the backless Provincetown style. These things matter to me.

I met the king last month (no but honestly) and I wrote about it for my substack this month. Why not have a read? It's free =} laurenjohnjoseph.substack.com/p/the-king-a...

Here's hoping this works out better than last time.