Chloë Ashby
@chloeashby.bsky.social
Author of FAMILY FRIENDS (coming 2026), SECOND SELF and WET PAINT. Words on art, books and culture in the Times, Guardian, Spectator, TLS et al.
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Chloë Ashby
@chloeashby.bsky.social
· Feb 19
Chloë Ashby's 'excruciatingly suspenseful' new novel goes to Fig Tree
Ella Harold, editor at Fig Tree, has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to Family Friends, the third novel by writer and journalist Chloë Ashby, from Emma Finn at C&W. Fig Tree will publish the novel...
www.thebookseller.com
I’ve written a third novel and Penguin Fig Tree are going to publish it! FAMILY FRIENDS is due summer 2026 👫👫 All thanks to Emma Finn and Ella Harold, and to Laurie for napping every now and then so I could edit. www.thebookseller.com/rights/chloe...
A mixed bag at the RA… my review of A Story of South Asian Art for @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/culture/art/...
A Story of South Asian Art review — the Indian artist who defined a movement
The Royal Academy’s exhibition devoted to Mrinalini Mukherjee and her contemporaries is beautiful but unfocused
www.thetimes.com
October 31, 2025 at 9:19 AM
A mixed bag at the RA… my review of A Story of South Asian Art for @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/culture/art/...
Chris Ofili loves steel pans. Lindsey Mendick adores Self Esteem. And Ragnar Kjartansson has to have the Cure. For the @theguardian.com I asked a dozen artists to reveal the music that brings out the best in them. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
‘All roads lead to Grace Jones’: visual artists on the music that fires them up in the studio
Chris Ofili loves steel pans. Lindsey Mendick adores Self Esteem. And Ragnar Kjartansson enjoys everything from Bach to the Cure. Artists reveal the bangers that get their creative juices fizzing
www.theguardian.com
October 29, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Chris Ofili loves steel pans. Lindsey Mendick adores Self Esteem. And Ragnar Kjartansson has to have the Cure. For the @theguardian.com I asked a dozen artists to reveal the music that brings out the best in them. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
I went to Skagen, a remote fishing port at the northernmost tip of Denmark, in search of Anna Ancher for @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/culture/art/...
Anna Ancher — Denmark’s brilliant painter of light
She learnt from the artists who flocked to her parents’ hotel in Skagen, was denied the training her male peers received and forged her own path as a painter of radiant interiors
www.thetimes.com
October 25, 2025 at 8:41 AM
I went to Skagen, a remote fishing port at the northernmost tip of Denmark, in search of Anna Ancher for @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/culture/art/...
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ in @theguardian.com for Betty Parsons at De La Warr Pavilion. Playful paintings and driftwood sculptures (I love the archive photo of the latter crouched on the beach like crabs!) from the legendary gallerist who represented Rothko, Pollock et al www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
Betty Parsons review – scintillating seaside adventures from the woman behind giants like Rothko
As a gallerist, she represented painters like Jackson Pollock – but her own work, which she did at weekends, is deliciously bold and breezy
www.theguardian.com
October 7, 2025 at 3:26 PM
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ in @theguardian.com for Betty Parsons at De La Warr Pavilion. Playful paintings and driftwood sculptures (I love the archive photo of the latter crouched on the beach like crabs!) from the legendary gallerist who represented Rothko, Pollock et al www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
✨ SALLY MANN ✨ I spoke to the US photographer about the controversy sparked by the images she made of her children in the 1990s, the “main characters” you need to make art, and the stuff that surrounds and hinders it. @theartnewspaper.bsky.social www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/09/01/c...
Cameras, creativity and kids: Sally Mann’s ‘kind of how-to book’ mixes memoir with advice for artists
The US photographer, whose images of her naked children sparked controversy, reflects on her life and practice
www.theartnewspaper.com
September 2, 2025 at 8:50 AM
✨ SALLY MANN ✨ I spoke to the US photographer about the controversy sparked by the images she made of her children in the 1990s, the “main characters” you need to make art, and the stuff that surrounds and hinders it. @theartnewspaper.bsky.social www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/09/01/c...
The case of the disappearing Amédée Ozenfant! Or, my latest for @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
The great art master who vanished …
He taught Leonora Carrington and founded an art movement with Le Corbusier, so why is Amédée Ozenfant forgotten? In this history, Charles Darwent sets out to rescue him from obscurity
www.thetimes.com
August 9, 2025 at 11:27 AM
The case of the disappearing Amédée Ozenfant! Or, my latest for @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
I wrote about James Delbourgo's history of collecting (and my childhood Beanie Baby stash) for @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
Confessions of obsessive collectors — the history of a mania
Marie Antoinette, Darwin, Freud … and Norman ‘Psycho’ Bates all did it. In A Noble Madness, James Delbourgo charts the changing image of the collector from antiquity to the present
www.thetimes.com
July 29, 2025 at 9:37 AM
I wrote about James Delbourgo's history of collecting (and my childhood Beanie Baby stash) for @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
Very happy to have the lead book review in today’s @thetimes.com ✨
On Judith Mackrell’s lively joint biography of Gwen and Augustus John.
www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
On Judith Mackrell’s lively joint biography of Gwen and Augustus John.
www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
June 7, 2025 at 7:22 AM
Very happy to have the lead book review in today’s @thetimes.com ✨
On Judith Mackrell’s lively joint biography of Gwen and Augustus John.
www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
On Judith Mackrell’s lively joint biography of Gwen and Augustus John.
www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
I reviewed Judith Mackrell’s long and lively joint biography of Gwen and Augustus John for @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
Double rum and hundreds of affairs: life with Gwen and Augustus John
The sibling portrait artists have been re-evaluated since their deaths, says Judith Mackrell in her double biography Artists, Siblings, Visionaries. So who was the greater talent?
www.thetimes.com
June 4, 2025 at 7:04 AM
I reviewed Judith Mackrell’s long and lively joint biography of Gwen and Augustus John for @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
another day, another press release
June 3, 2025 at 12:04 PM
another day, another press release
Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely reunite! My review for @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely review – joyous show from art’s golden kinetic couple
The married sculptors made very different art – hers curvy and colourful, his rickety and angular – but it all hums with life when brought together
www.theguardian.com
May 20, 2025 at 6:59 AM
Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely reunite! My review for @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
If you ask me, there’s nobody painting modern motherhood quite like Caroline Walker. We chatted ahead of her new show, which focuses on the constellation of mostly female workers providing support during childbirth and early-years care. In today’s @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
Breast pumps, babygrows and unfinished drinks: the stunning parenting paintings every mother should see
From intimate panels to breathtakingly cinematic canvases, Caroline Walker explains how she set out to capture the many sides of motherhood, right down to the first nappy change
www.theguardian.com
May 15, 2025 at 11:40 AM
If you ask me, there’s nobody painting modern motherhood quite like Caroline Walker. We chatted ahead of her new show, which focuses on the constellation of mostly female workers providing support during childbirth and early-years care. In today’s @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
It’s remarkable, really, the web Katie Kitamura can spin around a scene as simple as a woman meeting a man for lunch. My review of the author’s confounding and quietly intense fifth novel is in this week’s @thespectator1828.bsky.social www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-...
The mother of a mystery: Audition, by Katie Kitamura, reviewed
It is remarkable the web Katie Kitamura can spin around a scene as simple as a woman joining a man for lunch. His name is Xavier. We don’t know her name, but we do know she’s a successful actress. He’...
www.spectator.co.uk
May 1, 2025 at 7:15 AM
It’s remarkable, really, the web Katie Kitamura can spin around a scene as simple as a woman meeting a man for lunch. My review of the author’s confounding and quietly intense fifth novel is in this week’s @thespectator1828.bsky.social www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-...
Never has a light switch been so enticing! A plug socket pleasing! A door handle deserving of a turn! I reviewed Do Ho Suh’s exquisite show at Tate Modern, which is as bright and cheery as it is profound, for @thetimes.com
www.thetimes.com/culture/art/...
www.thetimes.com/culture/art/...
Do Ho Suh review — an exquisite meditation on the perfect home
The Korean artist brings model houses, domestic fixtures and fittings and brightly coloured passageways to Tate Modern in a playful and haunting show
www.thetimes.com
April 29, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Never has a light switch been so enticing! A plug socket pleasing! A door handle deserving of a turn! I reviewed Do Ho Suh’s exquisite show at Tate Modern, which is as bright and cheery as it is profound, for @thetimes.com
www.thetimes.com/culture/art/...
www.thetimes.com/culture/art/...
I reviewed (and loved) Madeleine Watts’ second novel, Elegy, Southwest, which is thoughtful and quietly compelling, and conjures the familiar sense of steadily trundling towards disaster…. In this week’s @thespectator1828.bsky.social www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-...
The road trip from hell: Elegy, Southwest, by Madeleine Watts, reviewed
Throughout her quietly compelling second novel, Elegy, Southwest, Madeleine Watts conjures a sense of trundling steadily towards disaster. The narrator, a young Australian woman called Eloise, is reco...
www.spectator.co.uk
April 24, 2025 at 9:25 AM
I reviewed (and loved) Madeleine Watts’ second novel, Elegy, Southwest, which is thoughtful and quietly compelling, and conjures the familiar sense of steadily trundling towards disaster…. In this week’s @thespectator1828.bsky.social www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-...
Not every artist who skyrockets to fame makes it all the way into space….
I interviewed Amoako Boafo for @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
I interviewed Amoako Boafo for @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
‘I did it for the experience’: Amoako Boafo, the artist who painted Jeff Bezos’s rocket ship
The Ghanaian’s dazzling work has been blasted into space and inspired a Dior collection. But, ahead of a new show, the ‘future of portraiture’ reveals how he originally wanted to be a tennis player
www.theguardian.com
April 10, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Not every artist who skyrockets to fame makes it all the way into space….
I interviewed Amoako Boafo for @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
I interviewed Amoako Boafo for @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
My family were very confused about my sudden interest in the cables that carry info around the world on the ocean floor – until I told them about TWIST, Colum McCann’s latest, out now from @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social. My review for @thespectator1828.bsky.social www.spectator.co.uk/article/deep...
Deep mysteries: Twist, by Colum McCann, reviewed
On the first page of Colum McCann’s compelling novel Twist we meet the two leads: John A. Conway, who has disappeared, and Anthony Fennell, who’s trying to tell his story. They first met when Fennell,...
www.spectator.co.uk
March 27, 2025 at 9:05 AM
My family were very confused about my sudden interest in the cables that carry info around the world on the ocean floor – until I told them about TWIST, Colum McCann’s latest, out now from @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social. My review for @thespectator1828.bsky.social www.spectator.co.uk/article/deep...
Reposted by Chloë Ashby
To celebrate the paperback publication of Hagstone next week, @chloeashby.bsky.social and I will be in conversation with Rosie Beaumont-Thomas of the Feminist Book Society at Bàrd Books on Tuesday 25th, followed by a book signing.
🎟️: wearebardbooks.co.uk/the-feminist... @cormackinsella.bsky.social
🎟️: wearebardbooks.co.uk/the-feminist... @cormackinsella.bsky.social
The Feminist Book Society presents SINÉAD GLEESON + CHLOË ASHBY
Tuesday 25th March, doors 630pm for 7pm start For their first event at Bàrd Books, Feminist Book Society brings together two exemplary writers whose exceptional novels examine the pursuit of an art…
wearebardbooks.co.uk
March 18, 2025 at 10:33 AM
To celebrate the paperback publication of Hagstone next week, @chloeashby.bsky.social and I will be in conversation with Rosie Beaumont-Thomas of the Feminist Book Society at Bàrd Books on Tuesday 25th, followed by a book signing.
🎟️: wearebardbooks.co.uk/the-feminist... @cormackinsella.bsky.social
🎟️: wearebardbooks.co.uk/the-feminist... @cormackinsella.bsky.social
Tomorrow!
Elegy, Southwest is out in the UK today. If you’re in London next Wednesday, the 19th, I would love to see you at the launch at Daunt Books Hampstead.
dauntbooks.co.uk/shop/events/...
dauntbooks.co.uk/shop/events/...
Madeleine Watts in conversation with Chloë Ashby
Buy tickets for the event with Madeleine Watts in conversation with Chloë Ashby at Daunt Books Hampstead from Daunt Books today.
dauntbooks.co.uk
March 18, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Tomorrow!
The dangers of dating Picasso ❤️💔
For @thetimes.com I reviewed Sue Roe’s Hidden Portraits, a group biography of the six women who loved Picasso: Fernande Olivier, Olga Khokhlova, Marie-Thérèse Walter, Dora Maar, Françoise Gilot and Jacqueline Roque.
www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
For @thetimes.com I reviewed Sue Roe’s Hidden Portraits, a group biography of the six women who loved Picasso: Fernande Olivier, Olga Khokhlova, Marie-Thérèse Walter, Dora Maar, Françoise Gilot and Jacqueline Roque.
www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
The dangers of dating Pablo Picasso
Sue Roe’s Hidden Portraits tells the remarkable stories of the six leading women in the artist’s life — and his poor treatment of them
www.thetimes.com
March 15, 2025 at 4:01 PM
The dangers of dating Picasso ❤️💔
For @thetimes.com I reviewed Sue Roe’s Hidden Portraits, a group biography of the six women who loved Picasso: Fernande Olivier, Olga Khokhlova, Marie-Thérèse Walter, Dora Maar, Françoise Gilot and Jacqueline Roque.
www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
For @thetimes.com I reviewed Sue Roe’s Hidden Portraits, a group biography of the six women who loved Picasso: Fernande Olivier, Olga Khokhlova, Marie-Thérèse Walter, Dora Maar, Françoise Gilot and Jacqueline Roque.
www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
SECOND SELF but make it French 🇫🇷 My author copies of REPENTIRS have arrived, a week ahead of publication day (13th March) and on World Book Day! Translated by Anouk Neuhoff and published by Alice Déon and the dream team at La Table Ronde ❤️
March 6, 2025 at 2:32 PM
SECOND SELF but make it French 🇫🇷 My author copies of REPENTIRS have arrived, a week ahead of publication day (13th March) and on World Book Day! Translated by Anouk Neuhoff and published by Alice Déon and the dream team at La Table Ronde ❤️
I’ve written a third novel and Penguin Fig Tree are going to publish it! FAMILY FRIENDS is due summer 2026 👫👫 All thanks to Emma Finn and Ella Harold, and to Laurie for napping every now and then so I could edit. www.thebookseller.com/rights/chloe...
Chloë Ashby's 'excruciatingly suspenseful' new novel goes to Fig Tree
Ella Harold, editor at Fig Tree, has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to Family Friends, the third novel by writer and journalist Chloë Ashby, from Emma Finn at C&W. Fig Tree will publish the novel...
www.thebookseller.com
February 19, 2025 at 10:25 AM
I’ve written a third novel and Penguin Fig Tree are going to publish it! FAMILY FRIENDS is due summer 2026 👫👫 All thanks to Emma Finn and Ella Harold, and to Laurie for napping every now and then so I could edit. www.thebookseller.com/rights/chloe...
Manet (my other main man) was born on this day in 1832
January 23, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Manet (my other main man) was born on this day in 1832
First review of 2025 is in! On Paul Thomas Murphy’s double biography of John Ruskin and James Whistler, which describes in detail the notorious feud between the prominent critic and the flamboyant post-Impressionist. In this week’s Spectator 🚀
www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-...
www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-...
The splatter of green and yellow that caused uproar in the Victorian art world
London, June 1877. Beneath a cloudy sky, the celebrated art critic John Ruskin strode along Bond Street towards the newly opened Grosvenor Gallery. Inside, he viewed a smash-hit show of beautiful and ...
www.spectator.co.uk
January 23, 2025 at 8:26 AM
First review of 2025 is in! On Paul Thomas Murphy’s double biography of John Ruskin and James Whistler, which describes in detail the notorious feud between the prominent critic and the flamboyant post-Impressionist. In this week’s Spectator 🚀
www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-...
www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-...