Lucy Mangan
Agent: Juliet Pickering
Assistant: Finlay Charlesworth
Lucy Mangan is a journalist and columnist. She was educated in Catford and Cambridge; she studied English at the latter and then spent two years training as a solicitor, but left as soon as she qualified and went to work much more happily in a bookshop instead. She got a work experience placement at the Guardian in 2003 and hung around until they gave her a job. Lucy is now TV critic at the Guardian, and a columnist for The i newspaper. She has written for most of the major women's magazines, including Grazia, Cosmopolitan, and Stylist. She was named Columnist of the Year at the PPA Awards in 2013.
In 2009, a collection of her columns from the Guardian was published as MY FAMILY AND OTHER DISASTERS. Her other works include HOPSCOTCH AND HANDBAGS: The Essential Guide to Being a Girl, a book about the experience of growing up in 80s suburbia, and THE RELUCTANT BRIDE, the lightly-fictionalised story of her wedding. INSIDE CHARLIE’S CHOCOLATE FACTORY, a commemoration of 50 years of Roald Dahl's CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, was published by Puffin UK/US in 2014.
Lucy's memoir BOOKWORM, a personal history and celebration of children’s literature, was published by Vintage in March 2018. Her debut novel ARE WE HAVING FUN YET? was published by Profile Books in October 2021. BOOKISH, a sequel to BOOKWORM, will be published by Vintage in 2025
She lives in London with one husband, one son, two cats and fourteen double-stacked Billy bookcases.
ARE WE HAVING FUN YET
Fiction, 320 pages
Souvenir Press, October 2021
Meet Liz: all she wants is some peace and quiet so she can read a book with her cat Henry, love of her life, by her side. But trampling all over this dream is a group of wild things also known as Liz's family. Namely:
Richard - a man, a husband, no serious rival to Henry.
Thomas - their sensitive seven year old son, for whom life is a bed of pain already.
Evie - five year old acrobat, gangster, anarchist, daughter.
And as if her family's demands (Where are the door keys? Are we made of plastic? Do 'ghost poos' really count?) weren't enough, Liz must also contend with the madness of parents, friends, bosses, and at least one hovering nemesis. Are We Having Fun Yet? is a year with one woman as she faces all the storms of modern life (babysitters, death, threadworms) on her epic quest for that holy grail: a moment to herself.
INSIDE CHARLIE'S CHOCOLATE FACTORY
Literature, 224 pages
Puffin UK/US, 2014
Lucy Mangan explores the wide-ranging influence that , Charlie Bucket, Willy Wonka and the Oompa-Loompas have had on our culture. The book features 100s of images, including previously unseen material from the Roald Dahl archive and behind-the-scenes photographs from the films, musical and more.
THE RELUCTANT BRIDE
Memoir, 384 pages
John Murray, 2010
A late starter in life, Lucy always swore she'd never get married. But now she has to find a caterer who doesn't charge a fortune for a cupcake, a dressmaker who doesn't make her cry and a way to bring Great-Auntie Betty down from Dundee for the sixpence she is willing to spend - isn't it meant to be HER special day?
MY FAMILY AND OTHER DISASTERS
Journalism, 272 pages
Guardian Books, 2009
In this, her first collection of Guardian columns, she shares her hilarious take on everything from family relations to the credit crunch and why organised sport should be abolished.