Lauren Joseph

Lauren J. Joseph is a novelist and playwright working with notions of social class, gender identity, religious faith and the queer experience. Her novella Everything Must Go (ITNA, 2014) was nominated for a Lambda Literary award and the Polari prize. Her novel At Certain Points (Bloomsbury, 2022) was an Observer debut of the year. Her plays have been performed in the US, UK, and Germany, and were published in a volume by Oberon in 2019.

Lauren has also been contributing to underground publications and zines for the past twenty years, with work featured in PS I Love You, House Party, Bird Song and The Fat Zine amongst others. Her nonfiction writing appears in the Observer, TATE ETC., the Erotic Review and Granta. Additionally she regularly reviews books for the Guardian.

Before becoming a full-time writer Lauren was an actor, in both film and theatre. This experience shaped her prose style which is both conversational and highly intertextual. The actor’s ability to find the authentic motivations of a character in a scene has proven a priceless transferable skill for novel writing, allowing her to create psychologically complex characters who don’t ever over-explain.

Away from her desk Lauren studies Spanish and is a keen baker. Both hobbies have come to inform her writing, allowing for periods of reflection and acting as much needed lessons in patience. For her next book she is researching the life of disco singer and Bowie muse, Romy Haag. Lauren lives with her husband in North London.  

Audio from Lauren J Joseph