Penny Martin
Penny Martin is an editor, writer and curator. She is best known for her considered point of view — and for being the editor-in-chief of The Gentlewoman. Penny’s career path has been diverse. Before helming The Gentlewoman, she was also the chair of Fashion Imagery at London College of Fashion and editor-in-chief of SHOWstudio.com.
If you could recommend 3 books to anyone, what would they be?
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
I read this when I was studying in Glasgow in 1991, it's so long ago that I barely recognise the person who responded so strongly to it. There are books for different times in your life, aren't there? As a girl, I was obsessed with The Enchanted Wood, though I can't read fantasy now. I loved James Kelman and Nabokov at university. About five years ago, I was really moved by Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, but if I were to read that this year, I'm not sure what I'd think of its take on sex. I think I'd recommend Dickens to any British person since it's such a sophisticated – and enduringly relevant – take on the British preoccupation with inherited wealth and class.
Subculture: The Meaning of Style by Dick Hebdige
The art history I was taught as an undergraduate was practically connoisseurship: we were barely taught any theory or cultural studies. So, when I started at the Royal College of Art in the late 1990s, I had to catch up fast. It was a bit of an ordeal by fire, but I remember reading that first chapter of the Hebdige and suddenly, everything clicked into place.
The Neopolitan Quartet by Elena Ferrante
Like so many other women I know, I was really transported by the Ferrantes' understanding of female friendship. I was lucky enough to commission Deborah Orr to interview Elena Ferrante. It was definitely a career high-point, working with both writers.
What are you reading now?
I've been reading a lot for pleasure this year. Usually, it's just journalism, copy-editing text and reading our contributors' books. I read biographies on holidays. So, of late, a real mix: House of Glass by Hadley Freeman; Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown by Anne Glenconner; Gatecrasher by Ben Widdicombe; Beloved by Toni Morrison, which somehow I'd never read. I live quite near some ancient caves in the East Neuk of Fife, which I've recently discovered inspired a volume of poetry called The Caiplie Caves by Karen Solie. So, that's next up. Other than that, I've got a very tricky garden, positioned over the wall from the Firth of Forth, so I'm reading lots of books about gardening on salt-drenched, wind-parched soil by Derek Jarman, Beth Chatto and the gang.
Whose reading list are you most curious about?
“I talk about books with my colleagues and our contributors all the time, as I'm always thinking about authors to interview for the magazine. So, I've found the writers and editors Susie Rushton, Seb Emina and Ann Friedman seem to be very good at choosing books for me.”
— Penny Martin
