Christina Patterson

Christina Mary Patterson (born 1963) is a British journalist. Now a freelance, she was formerly a writer and columnist at The Independent.[1]

Biography

After graduating with first-class honours in English Language and Literature from Durham University (Van Mildert) and then undertaking an MA at the University of East Anglia,[2] Patterson initially worked in publishing. From 1990, she was the literary programmer at the Southbank Centre, presenting hundreds of literary events. In 1998, she ran the Poetry Society’s National Lottery-funded Poetry Places scheme, enabling poetry residencies and placements. In 2000 she was appointed Director of the Poetry Society.[3]

After 1998, Patterson worked as a freelance journalist contributing to The Observer, The Sunday Times and magazines including Time, The Spectator and the New Statesman.[3][4] She has contributed to a number of books, including The Cambridge Guide To Women’s Writing and the Forward Poetry Anthology 2001,[3] in addition to The Huffington Post.[5]

Patterson joined The Independent in 2003,[1] writing on politics, society, culture, books, travel and the arts.[1] She was responsible for the paper's weekly Arts interview,[4] and had periods there as deputy literary editor and assistant comment editor.[6] She took redundancy from The Independent in 2013 as a result of cuts in its editorial budget.

Patterson has investigated nursing, a profession she has personally found uncaring,[7] in a series of articles for The Independent,[8] and a programme for BBC Radio 4's Four Thoughts series, an essay which Guardian reviewer Elisabeth Mahoney found "compellingly written and studded with rhetorical flourishes and unpalatable assertions".[9] The investigative work on nursing, which had its origins in Patterson's experience of having six operations in eight years resulting from breast cancer,[7] led in 2013 to her being short-listed for the Orwell Prize (Journalism).[10][11] She is a regular participant in The Review Show (BBC Two) as a member of its panel.[2]

Patterson has however faced criticism for pieces which have been considered antisemitic.[12] A July 2010 column about her ultra-orthodox[13] Charedi Jewish neighbours in Stamford Hill, north London,[14] led to her comments being on a Top 10 list from the Simon Weisenthal Centre of that year's most notable antisemitic slurs.[15]

This incident led the historian Guy Walters to defend Patterson, arguing that her inclusion in the list "is manifesting far more intolerance than anything she ever wrote. Yes, calling for Jews to be burned to death is anti-Semitic, but asking Hasidic Jews in Stamford Hill to be a little more polite is not."[16]

A supporter of the British Humanist Association,[17] Patterson is also a member of team at the Nottingham Trent University's "Writers for the Future" programme.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Christina Patterson". The Independent. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  2. 1 2 "About", Christina Patterson's website
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Christina Patterson". Nottingham Trent University. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  4. 1 2 "Christina Patterson". Business Week. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  5. ↑ "Christina Patterson". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  6. ↑ Stephen Brook "Independent reshuffles staff", mediaguardian, 14 March 2007
  7. 1 2 Christina Patterson "A crisis in nursing: Six operations, six stays in hospital – and six first-hand experiences of the care that doesn't care enough", The Independent, 10 April 2012
  8. ↑ "Christina Patterson: Writer and columnist, The Independent", Orwell Prize short list biography
  9. ↑ Elisabeth Mahony "Radio review: Four Thought", The Guardian, 28 April 2011
  10. ↑ Arifa Akbar "2013 Orwell prize for books shortlist revealed", The Independent, 17 April 2013
  11. ↑ "Orwell Prize 2013 Shortlists Announced", The Orwell Prize, 17 April 2013
  12. ↑ Robyn Rosen "Christina Patterson has gone and done it again", The Jewish Chronicle, 23 December 2010
  13. ↑ Julian Kossoff "10 reasons why you would want ultra-Orthodox Jews as neighbours", The Daily Telegraph (London), 31 July 2010
  14. ↑ See Christina Patterson "The limits of multi-culturalism", The Independent (London), 28 July 2010 and Miriam Shaviv "The limits of multi-culturalism", The Jewish Chronicle, 28 July 2010
  15. ↑ Nathan Jeffay "It's the top ten hate slurs of 2010", The Jewish Chronicle, 22 December 2010> For the original document, see "Anti semitism Goes Mainstream: 2010 Top 10 Anti-semitic slurs", Simon Weisenthal Center
  16. ↑ Guy Walters "It's not anti-Semitic to say that Hasidic Jews are intolerant of goyim", telegraph.co.uk (blog), 23 December 2010
  17. ↑ "Christina Patterson". British Humanist Association. Retrieved 24 February 2012.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/5/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.