Paris Lees on her Memoir What It Feels Like For A Girl

All The Small Things

Paris Lees (she/her) is a writer, presenter and the first openly trans person to be a contributing editor for Vogue. Last month, she released her debut book ‘What It Feels Like For A Girl’, an unmissable coming of age memoir, following the story of Byron Lees, growing up on a council estate in a dead-end town in the East Midlands. It’s written in an evocative vernacular style with an utterly immersive depiction of early 2000s culture.

The book is not always an easy read as Paris’ adolescence was highly dramatic, with periods of bullying, a troubled home life, rebellion, sexual abuse and crime. Paris has written an addictively-readable debut, cementing herself as one of the UK’s most exciting young writers. In this episode, we talk about Paris book writing process, how well the memoir would lend itself to television, the traumatic process of “looking back”, sexual abuse, her time in a youth offenders’ institution, self-care and more.

Episode content warning: sexual and physical abuse.

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This podcast was edited and produced by Venetia La Manna, with artwork designed by Alex Sedano and Music composed by William Haxworth.

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