biography.

Writer & journalist Abbey Stirling

After landing in London in my twenties, I found my footing at the London School of Journalism—the ideal launchpad for a fledgling culture writer. Evenings were spent haunting Soho clubs, West End theatres and screening rooms, writing reviews in exchange for complimentary drinks, film credits, and the occasional byline in urban glossies.

I then launched niche webzine and labour of love The London Word in 2007, managing a team of 30 writers across London, while also dishing out my own brand of cultural commentary.

From there, I spent two years jetting between Mayfair and Miami as UK Editor of Florida-based webzine MOLI. From the publication’s Mayfair headquarters, I managed a team of writers covering the latest arts and culture stories across London.

Regular trips to Florida saw me collaborating with the international editorial team, working at the Miami Book Fair, and reporting from events on both sides of the Atlantic.

In 2010, I relocated to Ibiza, where I spent two years freelancing as a writer and club critic. In 2011 I joined Ben Turner as Assistant Editor of Pacha Magazine, cutting my teeth in the cut-throat world of music journalism.

Highlights included hog-feeding with Mike and Claire Manumission, hugging a surprisingly humble 50 Cent, soaking up sun with Madness’s straight-talking Carl Smyth, and fishing with master surrealist David Lynch.

A stint back in the homeland saw me writing lifestyle features for New Zealand’s only Sunday newspaper, The Sunday Star-Times, before I returned to the UK for in-house senior copywriting roles at FDC Design Studio in Leicestershire and London advertising agency Them.

After a decade in rural Norfolk raising my three children, I’m now happily back in New Zealand, where I work as a writer, artist and designer—and am currently writing and illustrating my first children’s picture book.