Gilly Smith

is a writer, a university lecturer and consultant in creative writing in business. She also hosts a retreat for writers as well as offering a unique opportunity for writers and readers to dine with authors at The Sussex House Party.

The Writer

Gilly specialises in food, green issues, kids and health. She has written for The Times, Radio Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph, Taste Magazine, New Woman and Junior magazines, and has had fourteen books published since she left a career in Radio and TV in 1994. She is the writing partner of eco-pioneer and green parenting guru, Jill Barker of Green Baby and Animal Healer, Elizabeth Whiter.

The Lecturer

Gilly lectures in writing for TV, Radio and Film at the University of Brighton and as a visiting lecturer in writing across various courses and disciplines.

The Wordsmith

Gilly trains business people to use more of their own voice in their written materials. In one to one or group seminars, she shows how creative writing can express company identity, encourage staff cohesion and put the fun back in the working day.

Check out her BLOG "on being a writer" looking at the ups and downs of being in the business, her writers' retreats at "The Sussex House Party", her column for Eat Sussex and for all updates on this site.

Books

Her biography on Nigella Lawson (Andre Deutsch) was published in September 2005 and her foodie biography on Jamie Oliver and his effect on how food culture in Britain has changed in the last 30 years, was published in June 2006. It was updated as 'The Jamie Oliver Effect' (Andre Deutsch) in 2008 to look at the influence of climate change, peak oil and credit crunch on British food.

Gilly started writing a TV and consumer column for New Woman in 1991 while working in TV and Radio (GLR's glory days) as a freelance researcher. She moved on to food for Taste Magazine when she was working on Channel Four's investigative food series Food File. She and the show's producer, Rowena Goldman also wrote her first book, 'The Mediterranean Health Diet' after the success of the episode on the Government's Health of the Nation report of 1992.

Gilly's approach to food writing takes her through kitchens and restaurants in conversations with some of the best chefs in the world, but began with an interview at Harvey's with Marco Pierre White for 'Taste' Magazine. His sexual references and gastro punk attitude resulted in a feature on Radio One's Newsbeat at a time when young people were discovering good food for the first time in decades.

She also wrote 'Australia: New Food from the New World' (Andre Deutsch) and 'Fibrenetics' (Fourth Estate), in partnership with The Guardian and New Woman magazine.

Her love of travel and adventure has inspired other books such as 'Tantra And The Tao' (Robinson) after a trip to an Indian ashram, and 'The Juicy Guide', a series of relocation guides to Brighton, which she created when she moved to her adopted home town. It became a local bestseller and was a Sunday Times Book of the Week.

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