tv

Rowan Pelling

Former “Editrice” of the Erotic Review and columnist for GQ magazine, Rowan Pelling regularly writes for The Telegraph. Her books include The Decadent Handbook and Erotic Stories.

Rowan is best known for her work as the self-styled ‘editrice’ of the Erotic Review, transforming it from a society newsletter into a much-circulated and sought-after monthly. The Review brought erotica down from the top shelf, giving it the intellectual edge that Pelling felt it needed and deserved. She seeks to appeal to the primary sexual organ - ‘the brain’ - through ‘witty, intelligent and knowledgeable’ prose.

Education and early career

Brought up in a pub in Kent, Pelling can recall early days spent ‘hothousing at the kitchen table from battered primers’. The exertion paid off as she won a scholarship to Walthamstow Hall, a school for missionaries’ daughters. From there she gained a place to read English at St Hugh's College, Oxford.

After graduating, Pelling worked as Ian Hislop’s PA at the satirical magazine Private Eye. She went on to work for GQ magazine, where she met her husband Angus Mackinnon. She also worked as a columnist for The Independent on Sunday.

Erotic Review and beyond

In 1997, Pelling took editorial control of Jamie Maclean's Erotic Print Society foolscap newsletter. She oversaw a transition that gave birth to the monthly Erotic Review, circulation of which peaked at over 30,000. The new glossy monthly gained a string of high-profile contributors, including Auberon Waugh, DBC Pierre, Sarah Waters and Kathy Lette. As a slim monthly volume, The Erotic Review was ‘ideal for slipping between the covers of more respectable reading material on tedious train rides through the shires’.

After 8 years at the helm at ‘Erotic Towers’, Pelling moved away from editorial work to spend more time with pen in hand. She now writes a weekly comment column for the Daily Telegraph and is the Daily Mail's sex columnist. She also contributes regularly to GQ and Jack. Pelling has authored and edited a number of books, including Erotic Review Bedside Companion (2001), Sex: An Intimate Companion (2002), Encyclopedia of Erotica (2007) and The Decadent handbook: For the Modern Libertine (2007).

In 2004 Rowan judged the Man Booker Prize, and has more recently turned her hand to stand-up comedy. In 2012, she was crowned winner of Funny Women’s stand-up comedy challenge, successfully channeling the funny side of erotica; ‘I was a bit anxious about the obscenity potential of my set, so tried to keep things as clean as they can be when you’re talking about spanking, orgies and filthy posh girls… Blimey, it’s a blast of oxygen to the soul when people laugh at your jokes – I felt a Ready Brek glow afterwards’

Rowan lives in Cambridge with her husband and two sons. She’s currently writing a memoir about her days at Erotic Towers.

Erotic Review Bedside Companion, by Rowan Pelling (2001)

Sex: An Intimate Companion, by Stephen Bayley and Rowan Pelling (2002)

Encyclopedia of Erotica, by Rowan Pelling (2007)

The Decadent handbook: For the Modern Libertine, by James Doyle, Amelia Hodsdon and Rowan Pelling (2007)

Rowan is best known for her work as the self-styled ‘editrice’ of the Erotic Review, transforming it from a society newsletter into a much-circulated and sought-after monthly. The Review brought erotica down from the top shelf, giving it the intellectual edge that Pelling felt it needed and deserved. She seeks to appeal to the primary sexual organ - ‘the brain’ - through ‘witty, intelligent and knowledgeable’ prose.

Education and early career

Brought up in a pub in Kent, Pelling can recall early days spent ‘hothousing at the kitchen table from battered primers’. The exertion paid off as she won a scholarship to Walthamstow Hall, a school for missionaries’ daughters. From there she gained a place to read English at St Hugh's College, Oxford.

After graduating, Pelling worked as Ian Hislop’s PA at the satirical magazine Private Eye. She went on to work for GQ magazine, where she met her husband Angus Mackinnon. She also worked as a columnist for The Independent on Sunday.

Erotic Review and beyond

In 1997, Pelling took editorial control of Jamie Maclean's Erotic Print Society foolscap newsletter. She oversaw a transition that gave birth to the monthly Erotic Review, circulation of which peaked at over 30,000. The new glossy monthly gained a string of high-profile contributors, including Auberon Waugh, DBC Pierre, Sarah Waters and Kathy Lette. As a slim monthly volume, The Erotic Review was ‘ideal for slipping between the covers of more respectable reading material on tedious train rides through the shires’.

After 8 years at the helm at ‘Erotic Towers’, Pelling moved away from editorial work to spend more time with pen in hand. She now writes a weekly comment column for the Daily Telegraph and is the Daily Mail's sex columnist. She also contributes regularly to GQ and Jack. Pelling has authored and edited a number of books, including Erotic Review Bedside Companion (2001), Sex: An Intimate Companion (2002), Encyclopedia of Erotica (2007) and The Decadent handbook: For the Modern Libertine (2007).

In 2004 Rowan judged the Man Booker Prize, and has more recently turned her hand to stand-up comedy. In 2012, she was crowned winner of Funny Women’s stand-up comedy challenge, successfully channeling the funny side of erotica; ‘I was a bit anxious about the obscenity potential of my set, so tried to keep things as clean as they can be when you’re talking about spanking, orgies and filthy posh girls… Blimey, it’s a blast of oxygen to the soul when people laugh at your jokes – I felt a Ready Brek glow afterwards’

Rowan lives in Cambridge with her husband and two sons. She’s currently writing a memoir about her days at Erotic Towers.

Erotic Review Bedside Companion, by Rowan Pelling (2001)

Sex: An Intimate Companion, by Stephen Bayley and Rowan Pelling (2002)

Encyclopedia of Erotica, by Rowan Pelling (2007)

The Decadent handbook: For the Modern Libertine, by James Doyle, Amelia Hodsdon and Rowan Pelling (2007)

You May Also Like…

Anders Sandberg,Richard K. Morgan,Victoria Turk,Nicky Ashwell

Brave New Horizon

Where will technology lead the human race?

Robert Rowland Smith,Havi Carel,Parashkev Nachev,Pen Hadow

The Immortal Now

Can philosophy teach us how to die?

David Malone,Rupert Sheldrake,Denis Noble,Anne Bowcock

Emperor's New Genes

Are genes not the blueprint for life we imagined?

Brooke Magnanti

What happens to our bodies when we die?

Biologist Brooke Magnati reveals the secrets of decay

Lou Marinoff,Helena Cronin,Nayef Al-Rodhan,Richard Corfield

The Evolution of Desire

Do genetics explain all of human nature?

Aubrey de Grey

Defeating Aging

Do you want to live forever?

Nicky Ashwell

The New Bodies

Transhumanism: Rise of the Cyborgs

Rowan Pelling

Orgasmatron

What can MRI scans of brains in orgasm tell us?

David Malone,Rupert Sheldrake,Oliver Scott Curry,Eva Jablonka

After Darwin

Is the age of selfish gene theory over?

Isabel Hilton,Sue Bailey,David Healy,Jeremy Taylor

Are Doctors Bad For Us?

Medicine, trust, and power

Zoe Williams,Philip Ball,Kurt Barling,Anne Bowcock

The Illusion of Race

How do we move on from race?

Julian Baggini,Janet Radcliffe-Richards,Daniel Everett,Oliver Scott Curry

After Evolution

Is culture beyond genetics?

Phillip Blond,David Healy,David Nutt

Doctors in the Age of Google

Is it time to rid ourselves of medical authority?

Nicholas Humphrey

The Evolution of Suicide

Nicholas Humphrey | Self-killing's genetic history

David Healy

Doctors and the Danger Industry

Can big data improve the effectiveness of drugs?

Sebastian Farquhar

Life On The Edge

How can we halt society's existential crises?

Patricia MacCormack,Anders Sandberg,Janne Teller,Rowan Pelling

Overcoming death

Does fearing death prevent us from fully living?

Julian Baggini,Steven Rose,Adrian Bird,Caroline Relton

Why We Are Who We Are

The epigenetic revolution

Hilary Rose,Barnaby Martin,Ian Wilmut,Anders Sandberg

Planet of the Clones

Should we clone human beings?

David Malone,Eva Aldea,Nicholas Maxwell,Nicholas Humphrey,Ken Binmore

The Uniqueness of Humanity

Is evolution progress?

Steven Rose

Genes, Cells, and Brains

Taking on the bioscience industry

Rachel Armstrong,Steve Fuller,Athene Donald,Lionel Milgrom,Dylan Evans

A Paradigm of Health

What are the limits of western medicine?

Patricia Ellis,Martin Kemp,Griselda Pollock,Hans Maes,Cedar Lewisohn

The Naked Truth

How does the body in art relate to physical-being? Is nudity ever more than a sales tactic?

Kevin Warwick

Cyborg Future

Microprocessors & nano-robots in the human body

Hilary Lawson,Bryan Appleyard,Elisabeth Schellekens,Semir Zeki

Inside the Mind’s Eye

Mary Midgley

The Solitary Self - Darwin and the Selfish Gene

David Healy,Phillip Ball,Jacob Stegenga,Pallavi Bradshaw

Your Life in the Balance

Should we trust doctors less than we do?

Brooke Magnanti

Documenting Death

Whose death is worth recording? | Brooke Magnanti

Ritula Shah,David Healy,Clare Gerada,Gisela Stuart

Docs in the Dock

What can we do about medical errors?

Mark Salter,Diane Abbott,Roger Bolton,David Healy,Natalie Bennett

Are Hospitals Bad For Us?

Social justice impacts our health more than medicine

Colin Tudge

Why Genes Are Not Selfish and People Are Nice

Neoliberalism makes for crude science

Hilary Lawson,Mary Ann Sieghart,Kevin Sabet,Mike Trace

Morality, Hypocrisy and Health

Drugs and Western imperialism

Helena Cronin

Sex, Science, and Stereotypes

Why women have evolved differently from men

George Ellis

How Science Tells Us Who We Are

George Ellis | Nature vs nurture

Rachel Armstrong

Designing Life

Marcel Theroux

How to Live Forever

A future without morality

Jacob Stegenga

Medicine's Mistakes

Should we distrust medicine?

Stelarc

Meat, Metal, Code

Bryan Appleyard,Mary Warnock,John Harris,Aubrey de Grey,Athene Donald

Human and Superhuman

Is the pursuit of eternal youth fair on the young?

Tim Spector

Should We Change Our Genes?

Is ‘gene-doping’ a threat to humanity?

Ralph Cordey,Nick Lane,Monica Grady

The Mystery of Life

If we find extraterrestrial life, will we recognise it as life at all?

Ian Wilmut

Stem Cells and the Future of Medicine

Can stem cells ethically transform medicine?

Ben Hammersley,Mark Salter,Victoria Lambert,Matt Jameson Evans

Trust Me, I'm Google

Medicine in a digital age

Hilary Lawson,Massimo Pigliucci,Güneş Taylor,Joanna Bryson

Memes all the way down

Is Dawkins' concept useful?

Carlo Rovelli,Patricia Churchland,Heather Douglas,Anil Ananthaswamy

Science to the Rescue

How do we decide on the truth?

Emily Grossman,Kári Stefánsson,Jacob Appel,Rebecca Bennett,Simon Baron-Cohen

The return of eugenics?

The danger of eugenics

Natalie Bennett,Anders Sandberg,Emily Grossman,David Healy

What's wrong with us?

Is it time for AI to do more to help doctors?

Tara Shears,Bret Weinstein,Hilary Lawson,Terence Kealey

Trust, science and neutrality

Is science the gold standard of objective truth?

David Malone,Denis Noble,Guy Brown,Nessa Carey

The medicine myth

The failure of medicalising philosophy

Denis Noble,Johnjoe McFadden,Shini Somara,Frances Ashcroft

The agents of life

Should we abandon the idea of individual organisms