The Focus is a chance for freelance journalist members of www.journalistdirectory.com to tell colleagues, editors and PRs (in our separate newsletter from www.featuresexec.com) a bit more about their work and experience. If you’d like to take part email us on news@dwpub.com.
This week (pictured, right): Anne Wollenberg
What do you write about?
Film, music, work and careers, design and the creative industries, and social and political issues, with bits of education, finance, food, TV and media thrown in. You’ll usually find me covering a very eclectic mix of topics – in the last few weeks it’s been Twix bars, the Beatles, magazine design, Nick Clegg, domestic violence and pop stars’ degrees, among other things.
Where are we likely to see your work?
The Guardian and Guardian.co.uk, Virgin Media, DVD & Blu-ray Review, Cue Entertainment, TheSite.org and Computer Arts Projects magazine. Other recent clients have included The Musician, Disability Now and the Independent. Over my freelance career I’ve written for everyone from the Telegraph to Film4 to Pay magazine – what can I say, I get around.
What’s the most memorable work you’ve done?
I have a rare sleep disorder and wrote a feature on it for the Indy in 2008. Two years on, I still get emails thanking me for writing it (there’s not much other material on the subject). People often say it helped explain things to friends or family, which is great. On a more frivolous note, I very much enjoyed interviewing Simon Pegg recently, having long been a fan of his work (particularly Spaced).
How would you pay the bills if you weren’t a journalist?
I’d be a creative writing teacher or a lecturer of some sort. I’d actually love to learn to use creative writing for therapeutic purposes, but there aren’t very many courses in this and I can’t find any in London. Otherwise, I’d open a bookshop and/or teashop.
If we gave you £1,000, how would you spend it?
On a trip to Japan or Canada – my boyfriend lived in Canada for a bit and we plan to go over there at some point, stay with various friends and take the Toronto-Vancouver train.
What books are on your bedside table, magazines in your bag, or blogs on your screen?
I’m reading Naïve. Super by Erlend Loe – next on my list is Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart. My favourite magazines are a (possibly odd) mix of women’s glossies – e.g. Glamour, US Elle – and independent film mags like Little White Lies. Plus I just signed up for Stack Magazines, where you get a different independent mag in the post every month. Blog-wise, I read various media, film, food and craft blogs, plus Slushpile Hell and Clients From Hell are consistently hilarious and Rare Bird Finds turns up some cool online goodies.
Get in touch with this journalist via the Freelance Journalist Directory: www.journalistdirectory.com/journalist/XXTAT/Anne-Wollenberg/
