Elizabeth Day

Elizabeth Day (born 10 November 1978) is an English journalist, broadcaster and novelist. Day was a feature writer for The Observer from 2007 to 2016 and has written three novels.

The daughter of Dr Tom Day and his wife Christine, Day was born in the south of England, but raised in Northern Ireland. Interested in being a writer from the age of seven, she realised journalism was a preparation for her long-term goal, and had a column in the Derry Journal at the age of 12. Day was educated at Malvern St James Girls School in Worcestershire, and read History at Cambridge University, gaining a double first.

After her graduation, Day worked for the Evening Standard on the Londoners' Diary for a year before becoming a news reporter on The Sunday Telegraph, initially on a three-month trial. While working for the Telegraph, Day won the Young Journalist of the Year Award at the British Press Awards in 2004.Dominic Lawson, then editor of The Sunday Telegraph, was quoted at the time as saying Day was "probably the most brilliant young talent that most of us have seen in twenty years". Subsequently, Day wrote for Elle and The Mail on Sunday.

From 2007 until 25 March 2016, she was a feature writer for The Observer. In the UK Press Awards for journalism published during 2012, an event organised by the Society of Editors, Day gained a commendation in the 'Feature Writer of the Year (Broadsheet)' category. "The most fascinating interviewees", she commented in March 2013, "have been ... the ordinary people who have experienced extraordinary things. I did a piece on homelessness at the beginning of the year and spoke to men and women who had been living on the streets for years. I learned so much from them – about basic survival, the endurance levels required."

Bloomsbury has published three novels by Day: Scissors Paper Stone (2012), Home Fires (2013) and Paradise City (2015). The debut novel won the Betty Trask Award for first novels by authors under the age of 35. It recounts marred family relationships affected by a history of child abuse from a male lead character. Of Scissors Paper Stone, Melissa Katsoulis in The Sunday Telegraph felt that "it indicates a thoughtful and conscientious new voice in fiction." Catherine Taylor though, was less impressed.

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