Sylvia Patterson

Sylvia Patterson is an award-winning author and journalist whose 2016 memoir I’m Not with the Band (Sphere), tells the story of her three-decade adventures in music journalism. It was shortlisted for the Costa Biography award, the NME awards Book of the Year, the Penderyn Music prize and won BBC Radio 1 Annie Nightingale’s Book of the Year. 

In 2021 she ghost-wrote My Amy: The Life We Shared (Macmillan), a memoir from Tyler James, the lifelong best friend of Amy Winehouse. In 2023 her second memoir Same Old Girl (Fleet) tells the story of her endurance through and survival from a life-threatening disease — and the insights the experience gave her. 

She’s been writing since she was a schoolgirl in Perth, Scotland, where she first penned reviews on her post-punk heroes for the school magazine. She moved to London aged twenty to become Staff Writer on Smash Hits magazine in its million-selling late-80s heyday and went on to forge a freelance career specialising in all aspects of youth culture. She’s written for a spectrum of titles including NME, Q, Glamour, The Face, the Word, the Guardian and the Sunday Times. 

She’s been a newspaper columnist, a guest speaker for the Arvon Foundation, has appeared on Woman’s Hour, BBC6 Music, Channel 4 and at book festivals throughout the nation. She’s a passionate believer in the power of words, in storytelling and communication. She lives in north London with her partner, is a sports enthusiast and keenly supports the Arsenal women’s football team.