Charlotte Raven (born 1969) is a British

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

and

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

. She studied English at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

. As a Labour Club activist there in the late 1980s and early 1990s, she was part of a successful campaign to oust then student union communications officer

Derek Draper Derek William Draper (born 15 August 1967) is an English former lobbyist. As a political advisor he was involved in two political scandals, "Lobbygate" in 1998, and again in 2009 while Draper was editor of the LabourList website. He has worked ...

. She was

University of Manchester Students' Union The University of Manchester Students' Union is the representative body of students at the University of Manchester, England, and is the UK's largest students' union. It was formed out of the merger between UMIST Students' Association (USA) and ...

Women's Officer in 1990-91 and presided over an election in which

Liam Byrne Liam Dominic Byrne (born 2 October 1970) is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Hodge Hill since 2004. A member of the Labour Party, he served in Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Cabinet from 2008 to 20 ...

MP failed to be elected as the Union's Welfare Officer. She later studied at the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

. Raven was a contributor to the '' Modern Review'', and the editor of the relaunched version in 1997. There she met

Julie Burchill Julie Burchill (born 3 July 1959) is an English writer. Beginning as a staff writer at the ''New Musical Express'' at the age of 17, she has since contributed to newspapers such as ''The Daily Telegraph'', ''The Sunday Times'' and ''The Guardia ...

, with whom she had an affair in 1995: the two are pictured in the National Portrait Gallery. Her columns have appeared frequently in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' and ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...

''. In 2001 Raven was accused of regional 'racism' after launching an attack on Denise Fergus, the mother of child murder victim James Bulger, and the people of

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

in general, in a ''Guardian'' article on the James Bulger case. The article generated a high level of complaints. In response, ''Guardian'' readers' editor

Ian Mayes Ian Mayes is a British journalist and editing, editor. He was the first Organizational ombudsman, "readers' editor" – a title he invented for the newspaper ombudsman role Spare Rib ''Spare Rib'' was a second-wave feminist magazine, founded in 1972 in the United Kingdom, that emerged from the counter culture of the late 1960s as a consequence of meetings involving, among others, Rosie Boycott and Marsha Rowe. ''Spare Rib' ...

'' would relaunch with Raven as the editor. It was subsequently announced that while a magazine and website were to be launched, it would now have a different name.

Personal life

She and her partner the film maker Tom Sheahan have a daughter, Anna, born in 2004 and a son, John, who was born in 2009. In January 2010 she revealed that she had been diagnosed with

Huntington's disease Huntington's disease (HD), also known as Huntington's chorea, is a neurodegenerative disease that is mostly inherited. The earliest symptoms are often subtle problems with mood or mental abilities. A general lack of coordination and an unst ...

, an incurable hereditary disease, in January 2006 and had been contemplating suicide, an option she rejected after visiting a clinic in an area of

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

with a very high incidence of Huntington's Disease. In 2019 she became patient 1 on the

Roche F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche, is a Swiss multinational healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on the SIX S ...

Gen-Peak trial of a

huntingtin Huntingtin (Htt) is the protein coded for in humans by the ''HTT'' gene, also known as the ''IT15'' ("interesting transcript 15") gene. Mutated ''HTT'' is the cause of Huntington's disease (HD), and has been investigated for this role and also for ...

protein-lowering drug tominersen. In 2021 she published a memoir, ''Patient 1'', with her doctor Edward Wild on the experience of coming to terms with the diagnosis, the drug trial and the living with the illness as it affected her mind and body. Raven was shortlisted for the 2022

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...

Christopher Bland Prize for the book.

Recognition

She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2013.

References

External links

Charlotte Raven
columns and reviews from ''The Guardian'' and ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

''
Articles by Charlotte Raven
from ''New Statesman''
Portrait of Raven (right) and Julie Burchill
at the website of the National Portrait Gallery 1969 births Alumni of the Victoria University of Manchester Bisexual feminists Bisexual women Bisexual writers British feminists Place of birth missing (living people) British journalists British Trotskyists English LGBT writers Living people Alliance for Workers' Liberty people BBC 100 Women {{UK-journalist-stub