Joan Alison Smith (born 27 August 1953) is an English journalist, novelist, and human rights activist who is a former chair of the Writers in Prison committee in the English section of International PEN and was the Executive Director of Hacked Off.
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Life and work
Smith was born 27 August 1953 in London, the daughter of Alan Smith, a park superintendent, and Ann Anita Smith (née Coltman). She attended the Girls’ Grammar School in Stevenage and Basingstoke High School for Girls before reading Latin at the University of Reading in the early 1970s.
After a spell as a journalist in local radio in Manchester, she joined the staff of The Sunday Times in 1979 and stayed at the newspaper until 1984, although Smith still contributes book reviews, usually on crime fiction, to the publication. She has had a regular column in The Guardian's Weekend supplement, also freelancing for the newspaper and has contributed to The Independent, The Independent on Sunday, and the New Statesman.
In her non-fiction Smith displays a commitment to atheism, feminism (Misogynies: Reflections on Myths and Malice, 1989) and republicanism (Down with the Royals, 2015). She is scornful of popular culture and once gave away her television set to her ex-husband, although she acquired a new set almost a decade later.
On 15 September 2010, Smith, along with 54 other public figures, signed an open letter published in The Guardian, stating their opposition to Pope Benedict XVI's state visit to the UK.