Val Hennessy
{{short description|British journalist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
Val Hennessy is a British journalist who writes for the Daily Mail.
File:Val Hennessy, journalist, portrait by Phyllis Dupuy.JPG
Career
Hennessy taught English and drama before commencing a writing and journalistic career with the Brighton Voice, Peace News and Big Scream.
Hennessy later became a Fleet Street freelance journalist, an associate editor of Time Out and a columnist for Saga Magazine.{{cite news|last1=Fixter|first1=Alyson|title=Saga column sparks row over 'high life' in Totnes|url=http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/node/31268|issue=20 July 2005|newspaper=Press Gazette}} She was described by Auberon Waugh as "a handsome if elderly (by punk standards) and inescapably middle-class journalist".{{cite news|last1=Waugh|first1=Auberon|title=Another Voice|url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/29th-april-1978/6/another-voice|newspaper=The Spectator|date=29 April 1978}}
She is best known for her work as chief literary critic for the Daily Mail from 1989 to 2004. As of 2014, she continues to write for the Daily Mail{{'}}s "Retro Reads" column. Having reviewed thousands of English fiction books, Hennessy is a significant critic of British women's writing.{{cite journal|last1=Zangen|first1=Britta|title=Women as readers, writers, and judges: the controversy about the orange prize for fiction.|journal=Women's Studies|date=2003|volume=32|issue=3 |page=281|doi=10.1080/00497870310066 |s2cid=143858894 |url=http://locate.coventry.ac.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do;jsessionid=E392BDC7F4668B16CA469AD03798A450?tabs=detailsTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=TN_gale_ofa120929848&indx=1&recIds=TN_gale_ofa120929848&recIdxs=0&elementId=0&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=6&dscnt=0&scp.scps=primo_central_multiple_fe&tab=remote&dstmp=1402912436299&vl(2098346UI0)=creator&vl(freeText0)=Zangen%2C%20Britta&vid=COV_VU1&vl(37649530UI1)=all_items&mode=Basic&gathStatIcon=true|url-access=subscription}} Hennessy has interviewed Luciano Pavarotti,{{cite news|last1=Wilde|first1=Jon|title=Inside story: Great rock'n'roll swindles|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/inside-story-great-rocknroll-swindles-504634.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080521014043/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/inside-story-great-rocknroll-swindles-504634.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 21, 2008|newspaper=The Independent|date=29 August 2005}} Leonard Cohen,{{cite web|last1=Hennessy|first1=Val|title=The Future Tours Concert Reviews, 1993|url=http://www.webheights.net/speakingcohen/nyt61693.htm/|website=Web Heights|accessdate=2014-06-20}} Bob Dylan, Annie Lennox, Michael Douglas, Terence Stamp, Martin Amis, Vivienne Westwood, Elizabeth Taylor, Bob Geldof, David Bailey, Jeffrey Archer, Germaine Greer, Laurie Lee and José Carreras.
Throughout her career, she has also written for The Guardian,{{cite journal|last1=Mills|first1=Robin|title=John Miles|url=http://www.marshwoodvale.com/people/articles/people/john-miles|journal=The Marshwood Vale Magazine|date=February 2010}} The Observer, New Society, You Magazine, Spare Rib, City Limits, and London Evening Standard.
Judging panels
In 1989, Hennessy was on the controversial judging panel of the (then) Whitbread Book Award, now known as the Costa Book Awards.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/books/1989/12/10/book-report/990f71cb-527b-41e5-8339-6efc6e131c18/ |title=BOOK REPORT |date=1989-12-10 |author1=David Streitfeld |newspaper=The Washington Post |place=Washington, D.C. |issn=0190-8286 |oclc=1330888409}}
In 1995, she was a member of the AT&T Award for Non-fiction. Panel chair, Alan Clark, reduced the panel to laughter with his declaration that "No one may speak while the chairman is speaking and if you wish to speak, you must raise your hand".{{cite news|last1=Walsh|first1=John|title=Diary|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/diary-1610465.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140702080445/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/diary-1610465.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 2, 2014|newspaper=The Independent|date=9 March 2005}}
In 1996 Hennessy was one of "five leading women",{{cite web|title=How the Prize is judged|url=http://www.orangeprize.co.uk/about_judged.html|accessdate=2014-06-20}} "at the top of their respective professions"{{cite web|title=Judging|url=http://www.womensprizeforfiction.co.uk/about/judging|website=Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction|accessdate=2014-06-20}} making up the inaugural panel of the (then) Orange, now Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction and commented vigorously on the quality of submissions by British women writers.{{cite news|last1=Macdonald|first1=Marianne|title=Dunmore wins controversial award|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/dunmore-wins-controversial-award-1347518.html|newspaper=The Independent|date=16 May 1996}} As an early judge on this award, Hennessy's comments continued to be referenced by Emma Parker in the Contemporary Women Writers journal (2004){{cite journal|last1=Parker|first1=Emma|title=Introduction, The Proper Stuff of Fiction: Defending the Domestic, Reappraising the Parochial|journal=Contemporary British Women Writers|date=2004|volume=57|pages=2}} and John Ezard in The Independent (2005).{{cite news|last1=Ezard|first1=John|title=Orange judges to name best novelist of decade|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/oct/03/orangeprizeforfiction2005.books|newspaper=The Guardian|date=3 October 2005}}
Reviewing the reviewer
In a letter to Private Eye, Stephen Vizinczey credited Hennessy among a number of critics for taking his work seriously,{{cite web|title=In praise of Stephen Vizinczey|url=http://blog.theomnivore.co.uk/2010/11/23/in-praise-of-stephen-vizinczey/|website=The Omnivore|accessdate=2014-06-20}} but her reviews have not always made it on to a novel's dust jacket. The New York Times found "mixed messages"{{cite news|title=The Skim|url=http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/07/23/the-skim-7/|newspaper=The New York Times|date=23 July 2007}} in her review of Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach, while Hennessy's review of A History of English Food by Clarissa Dickson Wright was cited as a demonstration of anti-intellectualism in the British media.{{cite web|title=A review of A History of English Food by Clarissa Dickson Wright & its reviewers with commentary on the character of some newspapers|url=http://www.britishfoodinamerica.com/A-Number-of-Classics-for-the-Holidays/the-critical/A-review-of-A-History-of-English-Food-by-Clarissa-Dickson-Wright-and-its-reviewers/#.U6GT814Sb-k|website=British Food in America|accessdate=2014-06-20}}
Bibliography
- A Little Light Friction, Chambers, 1989, {{ISBN|024554786X}}
- In The Gutter, Quartet, 1978, {{ISBN|0704332302}}
In The Gutter received a mixed reception. Auberon Waugh called it an "admirable book" with "touches of a genuine philosophical nihilism",{{cite news|last1=Waugh|first1=Auberon|title=Another Voice|url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/29th-april-1978/6/another-voice|newspaper=The Spectator|date=28 April 1978}} while Joe Donnelly wrote, "In the Gutter though far from perfect would be a great addition to any punks' collection, providing you can find a copy?"{{cite web|last1=Donnelly|first1=Joe|title=Punk Book Reviews|url=http://punkrocker.org.uk/punkbooks/inthegutter.html|website=PunkRocker|accessdate=2014-06-20}} Lauded for the photographic record of the punk era, the book is now out of print and is in demand on the vintage book market.{{cite web|last1=Donnelly|first1=Joe|title=Punk Book Reviews|url=http://punkrocker.org.uk/punkbooks/inthegutter.html|website=PunkRocker|accessdate=2014-06-20}}