Zoë Janine Howe (née Street; born October 1979) is an English writer, radio personality and artist. She is best known for her rock music biographies. She is a Royal Literary Fund (RLF) Fellow and a contributor to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.[1]
After "[waiting] for ages for someone to write a book about The Slits", Howe started writing one herself in 2006. Howe's work initially focused on the album Cut (1979) in light of its forthcoming 30th anniversary, but it turned into a full biography.[3] For the book, Howe conducted a number of interviews, including with all four of the band's original members.[4]Typical Girls? The Story of the Slits was published in 2009 via Omnibus Press.
Howe's second book How's Your Dad? Living in the Shadow of a Rock Star Parent followed the next year, interrogating the lives of the children of rock musicians.[5][6] She co-authored Wilko Johnson's 2012 autobiography Looking Back at Me,[7] was commissioned by her publisher to write Florence + the Machine: An Almighty Sound, and contributed to JC Wheatley's The British Beat Explosion: Rock 'n' Roll Island.[8]
In 2014, Howe published The Jesus and Mary Chain: Barbed Wire Kisses[9][10] and Stevie Nicks: Visions, Dreams & Rumours.[11][12][13] She then penned Lee Brilleaux: Rock 'n' Roll Gentleman.[14][15]
Howe published her debut fiction novel Shine On, Marquee Moon in 2016.[16][17]Shine On, Marquee Moon was shortlisted for the 2016 Virginia Prize for Fiction.[18]
Returning to biographical work, Howe co-wrote Dayglo: The Poly Styrene Story (2018) with the titular Poly Styrene's daughter Celeste Bell.[19] The pair then collaborated with filmmaker Paul Sng on the 2021 documentary Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché. The documentary won Best Documentary and the Maverick Prize at the British Independent Film Awards.[20]
In addition, Howe started displaying her own collage art and worked on exhibitions.[21] She began hosting shows, including The Witching Hour (later Rock 'n' Roll Witch), on Soho Radio and contributed to 50 Women in the Blues.[22] From 2020 to 2022 through the Royal Literary Fund (RLF), Howe was a Fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge.[23]
In 2022, Howe co-authored The Jam 1982 with Rick Buckler[24] and began writing witch-related books, starting with Witchful Thinking: The Wise Woman's Handbook for Creating a Charmed Life via Llewellyn Worldwide.[25][26]
Bibliography
Non-fiction
Typical Girls? The Story of the Slits (2009)
How's Your Dad?: Living in the Shadow of a Rock Star Parent (2010)
Looking Back at Me (2012) (co-written with Wilko Johnson)
Florence + the Machine: An Almighty Sound (2012)
The Jesus and Mary Chain: Barbed Wire Kisses (2014)
Stevie Nicks: Visions, Dreams & Rumours (2014)
Lee Brilleaux: Rock'n'Roll Gentleman (2015)
Dayglo: The Poly Styrene Story (2018) (with Celeste Bell)
