Nell Frizzell

Nell Frizzell has written for The Guardian, VICE, The Telegraph, Elle, Grazia, The Pool, The Observer, Buzzfeed, Refinery29, Red, Time Out and is a Vogue columnist. She is best known for features and columns on gender, culture, art and politics, including a recent Guardian piece on childbirth that was shared over 10,000 times, a dispatch from The Jungle refugee camp in Calais for VICE, advice on breastfeeding in public and many, many pieces on wild swimming. Nell has also featured several times on BBC Radio4’s Woman’s Hour, Shortcuts and as a guest on Radio 5 Live, BBC London and (surprisingly often) on BBC Radio Ulster. As well as journalism, Nell has written and performed comedy (at Green Man and Machynlleth Comedy Festival as well as various comedy nights in London), works as a lifeguard at the Ladies Pond on Hampstead Heath, is a seamstress and occasionally recreates famous portraits in her front room for her blog http://goppeldangers.tumblr.com/.  

Current publication:

CUCKOO: The new novel about family and motherhood from the author of The Panic Years (Transworld) - 29th August 2024

After Nancy's father dies, she is faced with two life-changing revelations.

One: She has a half-brother she knew nothing about.

Two: She's expecting a baby.

Her brother is clearly the result of an affair, and she's having the baby with a man who, despite being in a relationship with Nancy for over two years, shows absolutely no signs of commitment. He's not even in the same country as her right now.

Nancy's half-sister Rita is furious with their father and wants nothing to do with their new-found brother. But Nancy is intrigued... In a tumult of grief, bewilderment, fear and hope, she is eager to meet Oliver and find the answer to what really makes a family.

And in a few months' time, who is going to step up and help her bring up a baby?

Praise:

‘carefully observed’, ‘poignant’, ‘examines what connects us to other people’ - Financial Times

Praise for previous publications:

HOLDING THE BABY (Transworld) - 2nd March 2023

SQUARE ONE (Transworld) - 7th July 2021

‘A smart and witty portrait of modern female relationships’ - the Metro

‘Frizzell writes beautifully and petically … while reassuring and validating the reader’s concerns with hilarious and comforting anecdotes from her own panic years. This is an important read for all women’ - the Independent 

'Nell Frizzell’s thoughts on womanhood and motherhood are as informative as they are poetic. Writing that challenges and enlightens you just as much as it entertains and stimulates you is rare, this book confidently does both on an important and complicated topic for modern women' - Dolly Alderton

'Searingly honest, witty and moving. For anyone who knows what it's like to simultaneously want to weep with joy and throw your child out of the window, Frizzell is a very welcome voice in the conversation on motherhood'. - Vogue

‘This book is incredible relatable and comforting... ‘Frizzell writes beautifully and poetically … making this an important read for all women’  - the Press Association

'Her silly delight in the playful possibilites of the English language is what makes her such an engaging and endearing narrator' - the Telegraph 

'There is so much about womanhood that feels indefinable. And yet with her definitions of the flux, and the panic years, Nell manages to define the indefinable - as well as uniting childfree women and mothers, where the two are so often pitted against one another. Lyrical, moving and thorough, this is a memoir, a feminist text and a piece of social commentary. Every millennial woman should have it on her bookshelf'. - Pandora Sykes

'Heartening, eye-opening, hilarious. I'm glad Nell has given this weird time a term we can all use'. - Emma Gannon

'A wonderful, candid memoir about the personal and political implications of motherhood, full of humour and fizzing prose. I loved it'. - Luiza Sauma, author of Flesh and Bone and Everything You Ever Wanted

'Lively, informative… Nell uses her own experience generously and the effect is inclusive, reassuring and funny, She articulates feelings I’ve had but never quite explored – it’s excellent' - Amy Liptrot

'The Panic Years made me laugh and it made me cry. There’s a rare tenderness to this book that comes from not having felt seen before. It’s for our generation, and Nell gets it. She understands and respects us'. - Rhiannon Cosslett

'For someone older, in a different set of panic years altogether, part of the pleasure of this book lies in reminiscence, reflecting and reframing. But it’s also galvanising, engaging and enraging. The personal is political, philosophical, emotional, and very funny. I resisted the urge to highlight everything that made me laugh, or think, or fired me up, because the whole thing would have been one big neon block' - Jenny Landreth

'Breathtakingly good' - Lauren Bravo

'Informs, educates, entertains... This book will resonate with so many readers'. - Red's top picks of 2020

'Brilliant' - Grazia

'Frizzell’s compassionate, compulsive prose fizzes with imaginative humour and metaphor... I admire Frizzell’s bravery, candour and campaigning spirit. Her critique of a society where inadequate, outdated government policy and workplace culture perpetuate gender inequality is sure to spark crucial conversations.- the Evening Standard

'A must-read... sharp, funny, it chronicles all of the big decisions a woman is expected to make between the ages of 25-40: where to live, if they should marry, what to do with one's career. And that other biggie: to have a baby or not'. - Culture Whisper

'Read everything that Nell writes! We continuously mention her work on the High Low because she really is such a unique writer/ - The High Low Podcast

'Nell Frizzell is a master. In The Panic Years, she picks you up and drops you deep inside herself and makes you see what she sees and feel what she feels in a manner that is both jarring and beautiful. I particularly recommend this book to men as it will start to heal the rift between the sexes that capitalism has – if not created – nourished and exploited. This book is a visceral exploration of one young woman’s life that has immediately applicable lessons for us all. Vital reading. Lest my trumpeting make you worry it’s only “important,” The Panic Years is also fun, funny, and warm. I love it dearly!' - Rob Delaney, writer and star of Catastrophe

'Wonderful... touching, helpful and enlightening'. - Sara Pascoe