Harriet Marsden

Journalist

harriet1marsden@gmail.com

Freelance journalist, editor and speaker available for commissions and broadcast appearances. Based in London but open to international and collaborative work.

Beat: politics, culture, arts and travel — the quirkier, the better. Also available for branded content and copywriting. My first novel, a fun feminist account of the six wives of Henry VIII, is available to pre-order.

Follow me on Twitter for trite takes, Instagram for vapid narcissism or TikTok for attempted relevance.

Recent favourites

Tortoise • 13th August 2020

Across the universe

Some historians are thinking big – and they want the rest of us to do likewise. Harriet Marsden reports In the beginning there was David Christian, a Brooklyn-born teacher and originally a scholar of Russian history. In 1989 he was hired to teach a general history introduction at Macquarie University, Sydney, and developed a multidisciplinary course collaborating with colleagues from other academic fields. He called it “Big History”. Biology, physics, geology, politics, history, anthropology,

Lit Media • 2nd May 2020

Could COVID-19 Spark The Beginning Of Social Reforms?

On Thursday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson told us that the UK was “past the peak” of the COVID-19 epidemic. Breathlessly, he said that “we can now see the sunlight.” The sun actually did shine through the rain, and a weary nation asked itself: could the end be in sight?

The Huffington Post • 13th March 2020

I Have Zero Patience For Middle-Class Whinging About Coronavirus

Right, that’s it. I’ve run out of patience. The next middle-class self-employed creative to whine about working from home thanks to coronavirus is going to get a smack.

The Independent • 9th March 2020

Sting, Shakti and sex: The exhibition changing our understanding of tantra

A woman has her legs slung over the shoulders of a man, bent backwards like a stone comma. One of her feet is on the man’s headdress, while he rests his chin on her “yoni”. I’m hunkered down on my knees in a back room of the British Museum, staring at a carved depiction of oral sex. Not your typical Tuesday. My guide tells me that the statue is 11th century, possibly from the Elephanta cave temples near Mumbai, and came to the museum in 1865. It venerates the vulva, or the source of creation, s

The Independent • 26th February 2020

How we’ve failed to stop the international tiger trade

Tyger Tyger, burning bright/ In the forests of the night. Perhaps no longer. Since William Blake wrote his most famous poem, an estimated 96 per cent of wild tigers have disappeared. There are fewer than 4,000 left.

The Independent • 11th February 2020

Pippi Longstocking turns 75: The legacy of Astrid Lindgren and the world’s strongest girl

She’s the strongest girl in the world. With her carrot-coloured pigtails, her striped mismatched socks and her freckles, she’s instantly recognisable. She’s a financially independent child, a reckless but compassionate anarchist with an intolerance for bullies. She’s a feminist role model who has inspired everyone from Michelle Obama to Lady Gaga, Madonna, Amy Poehler, Studio Ghibli’s Hayao Miyazaki and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Close ✕