Jessica "Decca" Aitkenhead (born 1971) is an English journalist, writer and broadcaster.

Early life and education

Aitkenhead's family lived in Wiltshire when she was born; she has three older brothers. Her father was a teacher in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

before becoming a builder after the family moved to the country. Her mother was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and died when Aitkenhead was nine. Many years later, Aitkenhead discovered that her mother had killed herself. Aitkenhead studied Politics and Modern History at the University of Manchester, where she worked for the '' Manchester Evening News'' as a columnist and feature writer."Decca Aitkenhead, the Monday interviewer for G2, the Guardian"
Student media awards, 2012, ''The Guardian''. After moving to London, she completed a Diploma in Newspaper Journalism at

City, University of London City, University of London, is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, and a member institution of the federal University of London. It was founded in 1894 as the Northampton Institute, and became a university when The City Univ ...

in 1995 before beginning her career in the national press.

Career

Aitkenhead wrote for '' The Independent'' from 1995 before joining '' The Guardian'' in 1997, but left the paper in 1999 to write her first book. During this period she lived in Jamaica for a year with her then husband. Her book ''The Promised Land: Travels in search of the perfect E'', was published in 2002. While the drug ecstasy was promoted as a way to make oneself happy in her travelogue, the book was described by

Dave Haslam Dave Haslam is a British writer, broadcaster and DJ who DJ'ed over 450 times at the Haçienda nightclub in Manchester and has since DJ'ed worldwide. He has written for the ''New Musical Express'', ''The Guardian'', the ''London Review of Book ...

in a '' London Review of Books'' article as, "In many ways" not "a great advertisement for drug-taking" as her experiences are largely "joyless" and not transformative.

Ian Penman Ian Penman (born 1959) is a British writer, music journalist and critic. He began his career as a writer for the '' NME'' in 1977, later contributing to various publications including '' Uncut'', ''Sight & Sound'', ''The Wire'', ''The Face'', ...

in his ''Guardian'' review thought the work "tentative" while

Geraldine Bedell Geraldine Bedell is a British novelist and writer for ''The Observer''. She drew wide public attention when she claimed she had been disinvited from a planned appearance at the first International Festival of Literature in Dubai, because her no ...

in ''The Observer'' described it as an "intelligent and absorbing book". During a period as a freelance, she wrote for the ''Mail on Sunday'', London ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after b ...

'', and '' The Sunday Telegraph'', before rejoining ''The Guardian'' in 2004. Aitkenhead contributed interviews for the newspaper's ''G2'' section. In 2009 she won the Interviewer of the Year at the British Press Awards. She had "particularly impressed the judges with her remarkable encounter in August with

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Alistair Darling Alistair Maclean Darling, Baron Darling of Roulanish, (born 28 November 1953) is a British politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Prime Minister Gordon Brown from 2007 to 2010. A member of the Labour Party, he was a Member ...

". She is also a contributor to radio and television programmes.

Personal life

In May 2014, her partner,

Kids Company Keeping Kids Company (in liquidation), formerly Kids Company, was an incorporated and registered charity, founded by Camila Batmanghelidjh in 1996 to provide support to deprived inner city children. From its original "drop-in" centre in so ...

charity worker Tony Wilkinson, drowned in Jamaica while attempting to rescue one of the couple's two sons. The couple had been together for a decade. Aitkenhead has written about their relationship, and the process of mourning in her memoir ''All at Sea''. Just over a year after Wilkinson died, Aitkenhead discovered she was suffering from an aggressive form of breast cancer with a genetic link. After medical treatment, including chemotherapy, her cancer is in

remission Remission often refers to: *Forgiveness Remission may also refer to: Healthcare and science *Remission (medicine), the state of absence of disease activity in patients with a chronic illness, with the possibility of return of disease activity *R ...

Awards and honours

She was the winner of the BBC's 2020

Russell Prize The Russell Prize (Russell Prize for Humour Writing) is an Australian literary prize awarded every second year by the State Library of New South Wales to a humorous book. It was established in 2014 through a donation by Peter Wentworth Russell, "a ...

for best writing for her article ''How a Jamaican Psychedelic Mushroom Retreat Helped Me Process My Grief'', published in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

''.

Publications

* ''The Promised Land: Travels in search of the perfect E''Decca Aitkenhead, ''The Promised Land: Travels in search of the perfect E'', London: Fourth Estate, 2002, * ''All at Sea''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aitkenhead, Decca 1971 births Alumni of City, University of London Alumni of the University of Manchester English journalists English memoirists Living people The Guardian journalists The Independent people