Dolly Alderton

Dolly Alderton is a half-Canadian[1] British journalist, author and podcaster. She is a columnist for The Sunday Times.[2] Her memoir Everything I Know About Love[3][4] won a 2018 National Book Award for autobiography[5][6] and was shortlisted for the 2019 Non-Fiction Narrative Book of the Year in the British Book Awards (won by Michelle Obama for Becoming).[7] The memoir is being adapted into a BBC television series.[8]

Dolly Alderton
Born31 August 1988 (1988-08-31) (age 33)
OccupationWriter and journalist
NationalityBritish
Alma materUniversity of Exeter
Notable worksEverything I Know About Love (2018); Ghosts (2020)
Website
dollyalderton.com

She was featured in the Forbes 30 Under 30 List in 2018.[9] In 2019 she was a judge for the Women's Prize for Fiction.[1][10]

In 2020 she appeared on BBC Radio 4's Great Lives, nominating American actress Doris Day.[11]

Early life and education

Alderton was born in London and grew up in Stanmore.[12] Born Hannah Alderton, she changed her name to Dolly in her early teens.[13][14] She was educated at St Margaret's School in Bushey, and Rugby School, where she boarded in the sixth form.[15][16] She has a 2.1 English degree from Exeter University.[17] After completing her undergraduate degree in English at Exeter University, Alderton went on to study a master's in journalism at City University.[18][19]

She has talked openly of how being rejected from Bristol University affected her self-esteem in her teens and twenties, and how she still feels resentful of anyone she meets who went there.[20]

Career

Dolly Alderton is an author, journalist and podcast host.[21]

Journalism

Alderton began writing for The Sunday Times in 2015, working initially as a dating columnist from 2015 to 2017.[2][22]

In 2020 she began working as an agony aunt for The Sunday Times in her column Dear Dolly.[17][23]

Books

Alderton's debut book, Everything I Know About Love, was published in February 2018.[22] BBC described it as "offering readers a frank and deeply personal account of friendships, relationships and growing up as a millennial."[23] The memoir was shortlisted for the National Book Awards in 2018 in the Autobiography category.[24][22] It was also shortlisted for the 2018 Waterstones book of the year.[22][25] In October 2020, Alderton was working on a TV adaptation of Everything I Know About Love.[26] It will be produced by the BBC and Working Title, with a screenplay by Alderton, directed by China Moo-Young. As of May 2021 the cast and screening date were yet to be announced.[8]

Her first novel, Ghosts, was published in October 2020 by Fig Tree.[27] The novel concerns a 32-year-old food writer, Nina, who meets someone through a dating app, while her father is beginning to show signs of dementia.[28][26] In October 2020, it was reported that Alderton had sold the film rights to Ghosts.[26]

Podcasts

Alderton co-created and co-hosted The High Low with Pandora Sykes.[29] The High Low was a weekly podcast focusing on pop culture and current affairs.[30] The podcast ran for four years and over 150 episodes were recorded.[29] The final episode aired on 2 December 2020.[30] The High Low: A Christmas Special Live Stream took place on 8 December 2020 to raise funds for Blood Cancer UK.[31]

Alderton presented the podcast Love Stories in conjunction with her book Everything I Know About Love, where she interviewed a number of guests including Stanley Tucci, Ruth Jones and Marian Keyes. Season one was released between February 2018 and May 2018, and season two between January 2019 and March 2019.[32] In January 2019, Penguin published a feature titled Six inspiring lessons I learnt from Love Stories, where Alderton described the experience as a "great privilege".[33]

Alderton has been a guest on numerous chart-topping podcasts, including Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster,[34] How to Fail with Elizabeth Day,[35] and Table Manners with Jessie Ware.[36]

Between February and April 2021, Alderton co-hosted a spin-off series for the Sentimental Garbage podcast titled Sentimental in the City with Caroline O'Donoghue.[37] In March 2021, the podcast received a five-star review in The Times.[38]

Themes

Alderton's work explores themes of love, female friendship, and her experiences living as a millennial woman.[39][40]

Naomi Gordon described Alderton's award-winning memoir Everything I Know about Love as "self-deprecating, and occasionally heartbreaking[,] musings on love, friendship, relationships, and growing up as millennial".[41]

Film and TV

From 2011, Alderton worked as a story producer for series 2-5 of the BAFTA-winning Made in Chelsea, made by Monkey Kingdom.[21]

Alderton has written and directed two independent films with her writing partner Lauren Bensted. Alderton released The Confluence, a documentary about Tagg's Island in 2014, and Anna Island, a short film accepted to the London Short Film Festival, in 2015.[42]

Alderton worked as a script assistant on the final series of Channel 4's Fresh Meat and directed the behind-the-scenes online videos for the last series of Fresh Meat and the last series of Channel 4's Peep Show.[21]

Alderton is currently adapting her novel Everything I Know About Love into a romantic comedy with Working Title TV. In May 2021, Alderton announced the adaptation had been commissioned by the BBC.[41] The BBC synopsis describes the romantic comedy as a portrayal of two best friends, Maggie and Birdy, as they "finally land in London to live it large, when the unexpected happens – dependable Birdy gets a steady boyfriend." It has been described as a "generous, funny, warm-hearted and uplifting Sex & The City for millennials which covers bad dates and squalid flat-shares, heartaches and humiliations, and, most importantly, unbreakable female friendships".[41]

Books
  • Everything I Know About Love. Penguin. 2019. ISBN 9780241982105. (Reissued "With a new chapter on everything I know at thirty")
  • Ghosts: a novel. Fig Tree. 15 October 2020. ISBN 978-0241434543.

Personal life

Alderton had a long-term relationship in her early 20s but has been single since then.[17]

Food is one of her principal interests, and she has named spaghetti vongole as her preferred last meal,[43] and is passionate about pickling and vinegar.[44]

References
  1. "About". Dolly Alderton. Archived from the original on 17 August 2020. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  2. "Dolly Alderton | The Times & The Sunday Times". www.thetimes.co.uk. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  3. Ermelino, Louisa (20 December 2019). "A Memoir That Serves as a Playbook for Your 20s". www.publishersweekly.com. Archived from the original on 1 September 2020. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  4. Burchill, Julie (13 February 2018). "Everything I Know About Love is a shockingly intimate memoir from former sex columnist Dolly Alderton". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 4 November 2020. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  5. "Specsavers National Book Awards 2018". Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  6. "Dolly Alderton". www.penguin.co.uk. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  7. "Non-Fiction Narrative Book of the Year". British Book Awards. The Bookseller. Archived from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  8. Gordon, Naomi (19 May 2021). "Everything I Know About Love TV series: a guide to Dolly Alderton's BBC adaptation". www.harpersbazaar.com. Archived from the original on 19 May 2021. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  9. "30 Under 30 Europe 2018: Media & Marketing". Forbes. Archived from the original on 16 February 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  10. "Announcing the 2019 Women's Prize for Fiction Winner". Women's Prize for Fiction. 5 June 2019. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  11. "Dolly Alderton on Doris Day". Great Lives. BBC Radio 4. Archived from the original on 2 June 2020. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  12. Hampson, Laura (2018-02-05). "Everything you need to know about Dolly Alderton's new book". www.standard.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2021-05-10. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
  13. "In a few short years, Dolly Alderton made herself a brand. This is how she did it". Mamamia. 2021-06-09. Retrieved 2021-06-24.
  14. "The Iris Letter : October 2016". us13.campaign-archive.com. Retrieved 2021-06-24.
  15. "Dolly Alderton tackles privilege and guilt". The Sunday Times. 17 February 2019. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  16. S4 Ep 2: Dolly Alderton, archived from the original on 2021-05-09, retrieved 2021-05-09
  17. "Dolly Alderton: 'I'm a romantic and open to a relationship but it's not at the top of my list'". belfasttelegraph. 24 October 2020. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 1 March 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
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  23. "Why Dolly Alderton stopped writing about her personal life". BBC News. 13 October 2020. Archived from the original on 26 October 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  24. "Shortlists". National Book Awards. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  25. "Rooney, Alderton and Eliot shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year 2018 | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Archived from the original on 25 February 2021. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  26. "Dolly Alderton: 'I wanted to reflect the reality that getting older has been incredibly complicated'". independent. Archived from the original on 4 May 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  27. Doyle, Martin (9 September 2020). "Thirty books to look out for this autumn". Irish Times. Archived from the original on 16 September 2020. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  28. Donkor, Michael (21 October 2020). "Ghosts by Dolly Alderton review – a sharp-eyed debut". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 24 November 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  29. "The High Low goes out on a high – podcasts of the week". The Guardian. 4 December 2020. Archived from the original on 19 February 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  30. Goldsbrough, Susannah (1 December 2020). "The High Low podcast soundtracked the lives of thousands of women – we will miss it sorely". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  31. "Blood Cancer UK | The High Low Show". Blood Cancer UK. Archived from the original on 8 December 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  32. "Love Stories on acast". acast. Archived from the original on 2020-05-08. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
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  35. Development, PodBean. "S1, Ep3 How to Fail: Dolly Alderton". howtofail.podbean.com. Archived from the original on 2021-06-07. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
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  38. Marriott, James. "Fortunately . . . with Fi and Jane review — radio veterans switch medium and subjects elegantly". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Archived from the original on 2021-06-07. Retrieved 2021-06-09.
  39. "Dolly Alderton's notes on being a woman". i-D. 18 January 2018. Archived from the original on 9 June 2021. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  40. Snapes, Laura (15 December 2018). "Dolly Alderton: 'We're so keen to moralise the female experience'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 4 November 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
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  42. "Film - Dolly Alderton". dollyalderton.com. Archived from the original on June 6, 2021. Retrieved 2021-06-09.
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  44. Podcasts, Spectator. "With Dolly Alderton | Table Talk | The Spectator". www.spectator.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2021-05-12. Retrieved 2021-06-09.
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