Cristina Odone

{{Short description|Italian-British journalist, editor, and writer}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Cristina Odone

| image =

| caption =

| birth_name = Cristina Patricia Odone

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1960|11|11}}

| birth_place = Nairobi, British Kenya

| death_date =

| death_place =

| education = Marymount School
National Cathedral School
St Clare's
Worcester College, Oxford

| occupation = Journalist, writer, TV commentator

| alias =

| title =

| father = Augusto Odone

| family = Lorenzo Odone (half-brother)

| spouse = Edward Lucas

| domestic_partner =

| children = 1

| relatives =

| nationality = Italian-British

| years_active=

| credits = The Catholic Herald (Editor)
New Statesman (Deputy Editor)
The Shrine
A Perfect Wife
The Dilemmas of Harriet Carew
The Good Divorce Guide

| agent =

| website = http://www.cristinaodone.com

}}

Cristina Patricia Odone (born 11 November 1960){{cite news | first=Cristina | last=Odone | title=What a tangled web we are weaving | date=5 November 2006 | work=The Observer | url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1939793,00.html | location=London}} is an Italian-British journalist, editor, and writer. She is the founder and chair of the Parenting Circle Charity. Odone is formerly the Editor of The Catholic Herald, Deputy Editor of the New Statesman.{{cite web|url=http://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/cristina-odone/|title=Cristina Odone|publisher=Curtis Brown|accessdate=23 February 2012}} She is currently Head of the Family Policy Unit at the Centre for Social Justice.

Early life

Odone was born in Nairobi, Kenya, to an Italian father, Augusto Odone, and a Swedish mother.{{cite news | last = Odone | first = Cristina | title = How well they knew us, those old masters | work = The Observer | date = 26 March 2006 | url = http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1739807,00.html | location=London}} Her half-brother was Lorenzo Odone, after whom Lorenzo's oil is named.{{cite news | first=Cristina | last=Odone | title='Lorenzo's oil, which my father and stepmother invented, was vindicated' |date=17 July 2005 | publisher=The Observer | url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,1530211,00.html | location=London}}{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2008/jun/04/medicalresearch.genetics|title=Obituary: Lorenzo Odone| first=Cristina | last=Odone |date=4 June 2008 | work=The Guardian| accessdate=24 February 2012}}

Odone's father was a World Bank official, which led to the family regularly moving. Odone went initially to Marymount School, then later to the National Cathedral School, Washington, D.C. After her parents' divorce, Odone moved to Britain to go to St Clare's, a boarding school in Oxford.{{cite news | first=Peter | last=Hebblethwaite | title=Lorenzo's sister edits Catholic paper | date=26 February 1993 | publisher=National Catholic Reporter | url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1141/is_n17_v29/ai_13540825}}{{deadlink|date=April 2025}} Odone studied French literature and history at Worcester College, Oxford.

Journalist

Odone edited The Catholic Herald from 1991 to 1995.{{cite web|url=http://www.cps.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=cpsarticle&id=104&Itemid=6|title=Cristina Odone|work=Centre for Policy Studies|accessdate=23 July 2011}} Odone later worked for the World Bank in Washington, D.C., as an advisor to European companies. She resigned from The Catholic Herald to be able to finish her second novel, A Perfect Wife.{{cite news | first=Andrew | last=Brown | title=After the apocalypse, enter Ms Jones | date=18 August 1996 | work=The Independent | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/after-the-apocalypse-enter-ms-jones-1310212.html}} In 1996, Odone became the television critic for The Daily Telegraph, a position she held for two years.{{cite news | first=Charlotte | last=Cripps | title=Media: My greatest mistake: 32 – Cristina Odone, Deputy Editor of the New Statesman | date=12 November 2002 | work=The Independent | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/my-greatest-mistake-cristina-odone-deputy-editor-of-the-new-statesman-604094.html| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101021082642/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/my-greatest-mistake-cristina-odone-deputy-editor-of-the-new-statesman-604094.html| url-status=dead| archive-date=21 October 2010}}

In 1998, Odone became deputy editor of the New Statesman.{{cite news|first=David |last=Rowan |title=Interview: Cristina Odone, New Statesman (Evening Standard) |date=3 November 2004 |publisher=David Rowan |url=http://www.davidrowan.com/2004/11/interview-cristina-odone-new-statesman.html |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060514093405/http://www.davidrowan.com/2004/11/interview-cristina-odone-new-statesman.html |archivedate=14 May 2006 }} Odone resigned in November 2004.{{cite news|url=http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/uk/New-Left-is-up-to.2577411.jp|title=New Left is up to its old tricks|last=Rowan|first=David|date=11 April 2004|work=The Scotsman|accessdate=23 July 2011}} For six years Odone was a weekly columnist for The Observer. In 2005, Odone wrote and presented a Channel 4 documentary directed by David Malone called Dispatches: Women Bishops.[https://web.archive.org/web/20080410213420/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/807173 Description of Dispatches programme]

Following a dispute with Johann Hari while they were colleagues at the New Statesman, Odone commented that pejorative changes were made to her Wikipedia entry.{{cite news|last=Odone|first=Cristina|title=I fell out with Johann Hari – then 'David Rose' started tampering viciously with my Wikipedia entry|url=http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/cristinaodone/100096260/i-fell-out-with-johann-hari-%E2%80%93-then-david-rose-started-tampering-viciously-with-my-wikipedia-entry/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717090339/http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/cristinaodone/100096260/i-fell-out-with-johann-hari-%E2%80%93-then-david-rose-started-tampering-viciously-with-my-wikipedia-entry/|url-status=dead|archive-date=2011-07-17|accessdate=17 April 2012|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=11 July 2011}} It subsequently became apparent that Hari was responsible, using pseudonymous sockpuppet accounts to make edits attacking Odone and his critics.{{cite news|last=Green|first=David Allan|title=The tale of Mr Hari and Dr Rose|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/david-allen-green/2011/09/hari-rose-wikipedia-admitted|accessdate=17 April 2012|newspaper=New Statesman|date=15 September 2011}}

A frequent contributor to radio and television debates, Odone is presently a columnist for The Daily Telegraph.{{cite news| url=http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/author/cristinaodone/ | location=London | work=The Daily Telegraph | title=Cristina Odone}}

Published works

Odone has written four novels: The Shrine (1996),{{cite book | first=Cristina | last=Odone | year=1996 | title=The Shrine | publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson | location=London | isbn=0-297-81661-6 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/shrine00odon }} A Perfect Wife (1997),{{cite book | first=Cristina | last=Odone | year=1997 | title=A Perfect Wife | publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson | location=London | isbn=0-297-81811-2}} The Dilemmas of Harriet Carew (2008)Odone, Cristina (2008). The Dilemmas of Harriet Carew. HarperPress. {{ISBN|0-00-726365-1}}. and The Good Divorce Guide (2009)Odone, Cristina (2009). The Good Divorce Guide. HarperPress. {{ISBN|0-00-728973-1}}. She contributed to Why I am still a Catholic (2005).{{cite book | first=Peter | last=Stanford | year=2005 | title=Why I am still a Catholic | publisher=Continuum | location=London | isbn=0-8264-8577-4}}

Personal life

Odone is married to Edward Lucas, a writer for The Economist magazine.{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/4308025/How-to-meet-and-marry-a-man-after-40.html | location=London | title=How to meet and marry a man after 40 | first=Cristina | last=Odone | date=21 January 2009 | work=The Daily Telegraph}} The couple have one child; Lucas has two children from a previous marriage.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/oct/31/stepmothers-survival-guide|title=The stepmothers' survival guide|author=Cristina Odone|work=The Guardian|date=31 October 2009|accessdate=23 February 2012}}

References

External links

[http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/author/cristinaodone/ Cristina Odone's blog] for The Daily Telegraph
[http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/cristina_odone/profile.html Cristina Odone], profile and list of Odone's articles for The Guardian
[http://www.newstatesman.com/nslibrary?c=&w=cristina+odone&df=1&mf=1&yf=1998&dt=6&mt=12&yt=2006&sb=Date New Statesman Archive: Cristina Odone], a list of Odone's articles for the New Statesman

Category:1960 births

Category:Living people

Category:Writers from Nairobi

Category:People educated at St. Clare's, Oxford

Category:Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford

Category:Italian women journalists

Category:20th-century Italian women writers

Category:Italian Roman Catholics

Category:British magazine editors

Category:British newspaper editors

Category:Italian expatriates in England

Category:Italian people of Swedish descent