Lucy Mangan


Lucy Mangan is a British journalist and author. She is a columnist, features writer and TV critic for The Guardian and an opinion writer for The i Paper.

Early life and education

Mangan was born in 1974 and grew up in Catford, southeast London, to parents originally from Lancashire. Her father worked in theatre, and her mother was a doctor.
She studied English at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, qualified as a solicitor, but worked in a bookshop until she found a work experience placement at The Guardian in 2003.

Career

Journalism

Mangan writes a regular column, TV reviews, and occasional features at The Guardian, and is an opinion writer for The i Paper. A major part of her writing is related to feminism.
The Guardian has given only 15 zero-star reviews, two of them by Mangan. In 2021 Mangan gave a zero-star review to the film Sex, Unzipped, remarking that the film "is a TV disgrace". In 2025 Mangan gave a zero-star review to television series All's Fair, describing the show as "Fascinatingly, incomprehensibly, existentially terrible".
Mangan also has a regular column for Stylist magazine.

Books

Mangan's book My Family and other Disasters is a collection of her newspaper columns. She has also written books about her childhood and her wedding.
Her debut novel, Are We Having Fun Yet?, was published in 2021. The Scotsman's Kirsty McLuckie gave the novel a glowing review, describing the book as "a work of genius".

Other activities

Mangan has been a judge for the BookTrust Roald Dahl Funny Prize.

Recognition and awards

Mangan won the columnist of the year award at the Professional Publishers Association Awards in 2013, and was shortlisted for the critic of the year award at The British Press Awards in 2019.

Personal life

Mangan and her husband have a son.

Works