Grace Dent

Grace Dent (born 3 October 1973) is a British columnist, broadcaster and author.

In 1998, she became a freelance journalist, contributing to Glamour, Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire, as well as writing a weekly column in More!

magazine.

From 1998 to 2000, she worked for the Daily Mirror, writing about international offbeat topics.

Dent began writing for The Guardian in 1999.

She wrote "World of Lather", celebrating her love of Coronation Street and other soap operas, for the Guardian's Guide supplement from 2001 to 2010.

Her first, It's a Girl Thing, was published in 2003.

In 2006 the first Diary of a Chav novel Trainers v. Tiaras was released for Hodder Books.

She was shortlisted for the 2008 Queen of Teen Prize.

In October 2008, Dent was part of the judging panel for the Young Minds book awards.

In December 2008, Dent signed a two-book deal with Hodder; Diary of a Snob was launched at Hay-on-Wye Literary Festival in June 2009.

From 2010 to 2012, she wrote "Grace Dent's TV-OD".

She has been "mainly vegan" since the early 2010s, describing herself as plant-based or a flexitarian.

Dent has written 11 novels.

She is a restaurant critic for The Guardian and from 2011 to 2017 wrote a restaurant column for the Evening Standard.

She is a regular critic on the BBC's MasterChef UK and has appeared on Channel 4's television series Very British Problems.

Dent has written 11 novels for teenagers, and her first non-fiction title How to Leave Twitter was published in July 2011.

Dent was born in Aldershot, Hampshire and grew up in Carlisle, Cumbria.

She attended Bishop Goodwin Primary School in Currock, Carlisle, and studied English Literature at University of Stirling.

While at university, she wrote features for Cosmopolitan after winning a place on their Student Advisory panel.

After graduation from Stirling University, Dent's first job was editorial assistant for Marie Claire magazine in London.

Her first non-fiction title How To Leave Twitter (My Time as Queen of the Universe and Why This Must Stop) was published in July 2011.

She was a judge on the 2011 Roald Dahl Funny Prize.

Her first trilogy of novels was for Puffin Books.

The rights were acquired for TV by Nickelodeon in March 2011, but were not developed.

In 2012, she signed a joint deal with The Independent and the London Evening Standard.

She has appeared on many British television shows such as Very British Problems (Channel 4), Pointless Celebrities, The Apprentice: You're Fired, Have I Got News For You (BBC1), The Now Show (Radio 4), The Review Show (BBC Two), Film 2012 (BBC1), The Culture Show (BBC2), Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe (BBC4), Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled (Dave), and Richard Osman's House of Games (BBC2).

Since 2016, Dent has presented The Untold on BBC Radio 4.

The series has been nominated twice for ARIA awards.

In November 2017, Dent won "Reviewer of the Year" at the London Restaurant Festival.

She has written movingly about the death of her mother from cancer in 2021 and the death of her father from dementia in 2022, having cared for each during their illnesses.

She was the Creative Director for the Evening Standard's London Food Month (2017) which won 'Best Debut Event' at the 2017 Event Awards.

She became the restaurant critic of The Guardian in January 2018.

Over Christmas 2019, Dent sat in for Vanessa Feltz on BBC Radio 2.

Grace joined Ainsley Harriott for a 5 part series on Channel 4 called Best of Britain by the Sea in 2022.

Published in October 2020, Hungry traces Grace’s story from growing up eating beige food to becoming one of the much-loved voices on the British food scene.

It won the 2021 Lakeland Book of the Year.

Published in 2023, in Comfort Eating Grace reveals why we hold these secret snacks and naughty nibbles so dear to our hearts.

Dent is a regular critic on Masterchef UK, Masterchef: The Professionals, and Celebrity Masterchef.

She has also appeared as a judge on BBC Two's Great British Menu.