Jack Monroe
| Jack Monroe | |
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Jack Monroe
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| Born | 1988 (age 28–29) Southend-on-Sea, United Kingdom |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Writer, journalist, campaigner |
| Years active | 2012–present |
| Children | 1 |
| Website | www |
Jack Monroe (born 1988 in Southend-on-Sea) is a writer, journalist and activist who has campaigned over poverty issues, particularly hunger relief, and has published a blog and several books of "austerity recipes".
Monroe, who was assigned female at birth, identifies as non-binary transgender and goes by singular they pronouns, rather than "he" or "she".
Monroe was born in Southend-on-Sea to Evelyn (née Beatty), a former nurse, and David Hadjicostas, a British Army soldier, and later fire-fighter, of Greek-Cypriot heritage. Monroe has three siblings.
Described as coming from a working-class background, Monroe passed the 11-plus examinations and attended Westcliff High School for Girls, a grammar school in Westcliff-on-Sea, before leaving at age 16, "bullied and disillusioned", with insufficient GCSEs to progress to A-level (either 4 and a half or 7, according to different sources). Monroe left the family home and began working in a chip shop, before going to work as a call handler for the fire service, a well-paid job which they enjoyed. After having a child, Monroe was unable to arrange the work around childcare responsibilities, and the fire service was unwilling or unable to make adjustments to the working pattern to make continued employment feasible. Monroe resigned the post. It was at this point they changed their name from their birth name to Jack Monroe - 'Jack' being short for "Jack of all trades", their nickname.
Monroe spent the following 18 months looking for work, and moved from relative affluence to poverty and financial hardship. Monroe came to prominence in the media through writing the blog A Girl Called Jack, sharing cheap recipes created as a single parent with a young child, and aiming to provide family meals for less than £10 per week. In December 2015 the blog was renamed to Cooking on a Bootstrap.
In 2012 Monroe became a weekly columnist for The Echo, and in February 2013 was taken on by the same as a trainee reporter - the timing was fortunate, as Monroe was having difficulty affording nursery fees. Monroe was later retained as an unpaid columnist for The Huffington Post, before signing a publishing deal with Penguin Group. The book deal, reported as worth £25,000, resulted in housing benefit being cut off and Monroe came close to being evicted, which led to moving into cheaper accommodation. Despite working every day, Monroe was unable to make ends meet. By January 2014, finances had improved, and Monroe was able to move into a small 2 bedroom flat with their son.
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Wikipedia