CHRISTIANA SPENS

I’m a writer and academic based in London. I read Philosophy at Cambridge before a Masters in Terrorism Studies at the University of St. Andrews, where I then wrote my PhD thesis on political villains, scapegoating rituals and moral panics. I’ve written several books on related subjects, including Shooting Hipsters: Rethinking Dissent in the Age of PR (Repeater Books, 2016), The Portrayal and Punishment of Terrorists in Western Media: Playing the Villain (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019) and The Fear (Repeater Books, 2023). I write regularly for publications such as The New Statesman, The Irish Times, Glamour, Stylist, Literary Hub, The London Magazine, Prospect and Studio International on culture, psychology and politics, and sometimes work as an illustrator for books by Granta, NYRB, and other publishers.