Book Review

Irish Times
January 2018, Book Review of The Digital Critic
“It falls to Laura Waddell to make an important point about the disconnect between the users of digital publishing platforms and the code underlying those platforms.”

Minor Lits
November 2017, Book Review of The Digital Critic
“Very few of the writers in the collection observe that the most potent form of literary criticism online is not the intellectual and considered writing that is represented by their own work, but the influence of new forms of literary populism. Laura Waddell’s essay, Digital Currency, tackles this straight on.”

New Statesman
October 2017, Book Review of Know Your Place
“I liked Laura Waddell on the joy of fast food… Know Your Place will not drown out the well-bred clamour of those who see the working class as straw men to be fashioned into handy vent dolls, but it’s a smashing start.” 

The List
Spring 2017, Book Review of Nasty Women
“Laura Waddell‘s essay on class and art resonates because she writes the bare, hurtful truth.”

BookRiot
July 2017, Book Review of Nasty Women
“Based on the power in [Laura Waddell’s] essay, we clearly need to hear more from working class women and arguably the publishing industry as a whole has a responsibility to make that happen.”

The Skinny
February 2017, Book Review of Nasty Women
“It’s hard to single out pieces for praise in a collection where each essay is stellar…  Laura Waddell’s vivid evocation of teenage years and the absence of working class stories ‘as though art and education is for one class, and gravy and labour the other’.”

ScotsWhayHae
April 2017, Book Review of Nasty Women
“Laura Waddell’s insightful ‘Against Stereotypes: Working Class Girls And Working Class Art’ looks at the inherent restraints to learning and employment in the arts for the working class in a capitalist economic system, a situation which is only getting worse as arts funding is cut alongside that for tertiary education.”

The Bottle Imp
Nov 2017, Best Scottish Books of 2017
“One fan has delivered a copy to Trump Towers; it was the bestselling title at this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival; and publishers 404Ink have just topped The List’s Hot 100 list of figures who’ve contributed most to the cultural landscape during the year: my book of the year has to be Nasty Women… Laura Waddell powerfully challenging lazy working class stereotypes.”

Open Pen
Nov 2017, Book Review of Nasty Women
“The highlights – for me (as a class-anxious individual with mental health problems lololol) – were a stunning essay on being working class in a middle class industry from Laura Waddell…”

The Quarterly Review
Nov 2017, Book Review of The Digital Critic
“The Digital Critic assays the splendeurs et misères of this new age… Laura Waddell extends this into discussion of how data-harvesting turns every internet user into a ‘digital currency’.”

Trade Announcements and News

Tramp Press appoints Laura Waddell as UK Publishing Director
The Irish Times 17.12.18
The Bookseller 18.12.18
BookBrunch 18.12.18
The Herald 18.12.18

The Bookseller
13.01.17 Writers to protest ‘slide into fascism’ as Trump takes office.
‘”As Trump takes office in just a few days and the UK faces its own crisis in the wake of Brexit, the need to stand up for free expression and human rights becomes increasingly pressing,” added Laura Waddell.’

11.05.17 De Waal and McMillan to feature in new working class anthology.
Listed alongside other contributors of the book Know Your Place

20.10.17 Welsh, Kelman and Fagan shortlisted at 2016 Saltire Society Literary Awards
and 21.10.17 The Herald
Shortlisted for Emerging Publisher of the Year 2016 and 2017

BookMachine
14.01.17 Writers plan protest ahead of Trump inauguration day
“Writers Resist London will join over 50 cities worldwide in reaffirming a commitment to a tolerant and diverse society through panel discussion and poetry readings from literary voices.”

Profiles and Interviews

Guardian
26.08.16 Good to Meet You, Laura Waddell
“Like many people in the arts, I have a poor life/work balance and feel steeped in what I do, both a curse and a blessing that I wouldn’t trade to make more money in other fields.”

Creative Scotland
March 2018: Emerging Critics, Laura Waddell on writing, arts and criticism today
“Arts coverage is an important part of the cultural ecosystem, and of course there is a strong indie publishing scene here, but occasionally I notice a disparity between exciting new publishing and what actually makes it to review pages.”

Minor Literatures
27.02.17 Interview alongside Zeba Talkhani on Nasty Women
“Imagine how many incredible writers have been overlooked over the years, for us never to know, because they faced barriers to publication. Pushing past barriers to publication is as important for the individual as it is for the integrity and quality of literature itself.”

17.11.17 Laura Waddell answers the Momus Questionnaire 
“I recall with greedy clarity watching a pound coin slide around in a circle before dropping into the slot of a dog shaped charity box for rescue animals. I wasn’t sure whether to be proud of myself for playing my bit to further a cause I believed in or upset at the spontaneous sacrifice when I could have bought sweets instead. I was ten. I have since repeated this emotional journey by dedicating an awful lot of time to things like indie literary magazines when I could have become an accountant or something in half the hours.”

Nothing in the Rule Book
11.04.17 Interview
“I’ve had times in my life when I’ve been utterly consumed by the need to write, and times when I’ve felt too dispirited to pick up a pen.”

Interrobang
27.01.17 Event Preview Questionnaire
“To bolster resolve, Rebecca Solnit’s Men Explain Things to Me. To find meaning and beauty in everyday surroundings, the Collected Poems of William Carlos Williams. To encourage writers to push through censorship, a blank notebook.”

Quotes and Commentary

Times Literary Supplement
April 2017, The Decline of the English Novel by Houman Barekat
“Laura Waddell, a writer and a board member of PEN Scotland, reckons outsider status can have an invigorating effect on literary culture. “A lot that happens independently in Scotland and Ireland is a necessary response to geographical distance from London-centric literary press and culture”, she told me. “When a literary culture is positioned as external but in relation to a bigger and more centralized one – distinguished for all kinds of reasons, including local appeal sales, press and national funding bodies – it may give rise to work that is different in style from its bigger neighbour and conceives itself, in part, as ‘different’. The indie publishing scene is thriving at the moment, and innovation often emerges in that context. Literary culture here is self-aware in national identity, and it is the other.””

The Herald
03.03.17 Arts News: Scottish PEN launch Many Voices
“Laura Waddell, Scottish PEN board member, said: “More than ever we need to open up such opportunities to a wider variety of people. Not only is access to writing support important for personal expression, but for all the stories that are yet to be told about the world we live in today.””

Sunday Herald
29.09.19 Burberry is back… but it’s all thanks to ‘council estate chic’
“Writer Laura Waddell, a contributor to Know Your Place: Essays on the Working Class recognises the growing trend… She said: “I don’t find working class clothes with a high class price tag offensive so much as alienating. Concocting some working class fashion fantasy to frolic in, shows how distanced fashion and other arts and media industries can be.”

Features and Case Studies

Guardian
My daily poetry newsletter and twitter account, Lunchtime Poetry, is featured in an article in The Guardian.
13.10.16 TinyLetter: The Saviour of Modern Poetry? 
“Laura Waddell began her TinyLetter, Lunchtime Poetry, to make poetry a more regular part of her own routine…”
and Mslexia Issue 73, 2017: Get Creative with TinyLetter
“…Laura Waddell ‘created what I wished existed’ with Lunchtime Poetry, which delivers a hand-picked poem every weekday.”

Blogging For Writers – Book
My online promotional event #ETeaParty is featured as a case study in the book Blogging For Writers
and Pop.Edit.Lit feature/interview