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 The Royal Literary Fund (RLF) is a benevolent fund that gives assistance to published British writers in financial difficulties. Founded in 1790, and granted a royal charter in 1818, the Fund has helped an extensive roll of authors through its lon ...

(RLF) Fellow and a contributor to the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''.

Early and personal life

Zoë Janine Street is the daughter of Sean Street and Joanne Dynan. She married drummer

Dylan Howe Dylan Lee Howe (born 4 August 1969) is an English drummer, bandleader, session musician and composer. The son of guitarist Steve Howe (musician), Steve Howe with whom he has sometimes collaborated, Dylan is also noted for his work with rock ba ...

in 2006. The couple live in

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in south-eastern Essex, England. It lies on the nor ...

Career

After " aitingfor ages for someone to write a book about

The Slits The Slits were a punk/post-punk band based in London, formed there in 1976 by members of the groups the Flowers of Romance and the Castrators. The group's early line-up consisted of Ari Up (Ariane Forster) and Palmolive (a.k.a. Paloma Rom ...

", Howe started writing one herself in 2006. Howe's work initially focused on the album ''

Cut Cut or CUT may refer to: Common uses * The act of cutting, the separation of an object into two through acutely directed force ** A type of wound ** Cut (archaeology), a hole dug in the past ** Cut (clothing), the style or shape of a garment ** ...

'' (1979) in light of its forthcoming 30th anniversary, but it turned into a full biography. For the book, Howe conducted a number of interviews, including with all four of the band's original members. ''Typical Girls? The Story of the Slits'' was published in 2009 via

Omnibus Press Omnibus Press is a publisher of music-related books. It publishes around 30 new titles a year to add to a backlist of over 300 titles currently in print. History Omnibus Press was launched in 1972 as a general non-fiction publisher to complem ...

. 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. She co-authored

Wilko Johnson John Andrew Wilkinson (12 July 1947 – 21 November 2022), better known by the stage name Wilko Johnson, was an English guitarist, singer, songwriter and occasional actor. He was a member of the pub rock/rhythm and blues band Dr. Feelgood in ...

's 2012 autobiography ''Looking Back at Me'', 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''. In 2014, Howe published ''The Jesus and Mary Chain: Barbed Wire Kisses'' and ''Stevie Nicks: Visions, Dreams & Rumours''. She then penned ''Lee Brilleaux: Rock 'n' Roll Gentleman''. Howe published her debut fiction novel ''Shine On, Marquee Moon'' in 2016. ''Shine On, Marquee Moon'' was shortlisted for the 2016 Virginia Prize for Fiction. Returning to biographical work, Howe co-wrote ''Dayglo: The Poly Styrene Story'' (2018) with the titular

Poly Styrene Marianne Joan Elliott-Said (3 July 1957 – 25 April 2011), known by the stage name Poly Styrene, was an English musician, singer-songwriter, and frontwoman for the punk rock band X-Ray Spex. She was recognized as rock's original Riot grrrl, t ...

's daughter Celeste Bell. 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 The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) is an organisation that celebrates, supports, and promotes British independent cinema and film-making talent in the United Kingdom. Nominations for the annual awards ceremony are announced in early Nov ...

. In addition, Howe started displaying her own collage art and worked on exhibitions. She began hosting shows, including ''The Witching Hour'' (later ''Rock 'n' Roll Witch''), on Soho Radio and contributed to ''50 Women in the Blues''. From 2020 to 2022 through the

(RLF), Howe was a Fellow of

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...

. In 2022, Howe co-authored ''The Jam 1982'' with

Rick Buckler Paul Richard Buckler (6 December 1955 – 17 February 2025) was an English musician who was the drummer of the rock band the Jam. Although the Jam's creative output came to be attributed primarily to Paul Weller, its rhythm section of Buckle ...

and began writing witch-related books, starting with ''Witchful Thinking: The Wise Woman's Handbook for Creating a Charmed Life'' via

Llewellyn Worldwide Llewellyn Worldwide (formerly Llewellyn Publications) is a New Age publishing, publisher based in Woodbury, Minnesota. Llewellyn's mission is to "serve the trade and consumers worldwide with options and tools for exploring new worlds of mind & sp ...

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) * ''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) * ''The Jam 1982'' (2022)

Novels

* ''Shine On, Marquee Moon'' (2016)

Other

* ''Witchful Thinking: The Wise Woman's Handbook for Creating a Charmed Life'' (2022) * ''Scorpio Witch: Unlock the Magic of Your Sun Sign'' (2023)

Contributions

* ''The British Beat Explosion: Rock 'n' Roll Island'' (2013) * ''50 Women in the Blues'' (2020)

Filmography

* '' Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché'' (2021)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:howe, zoe Living people 1979 births British women collage artists Celebrity biographers English modern pagans English occult writers English radio personalities English women biographers English women novelists English writers about music Fellows of Newnham College, Cambridge People from Aylesbury Writers from Buckinghamshire