Catherine Mayer is an accomplished author, journalist, and activist. She co-founded and leads the Women’s Equality Party as its President. She also co-founded the Primadonna Festival.
Her books include Amortality: The Pleasures and Perils of Living Agelessly, Attack of the Fifty Foot Women: How Gender Equality Can Save the World!, and Good Grief: Embracing Life at a Time of Death. The latter features letters from her mother, reflecting on their shared experience of widowhood during the pandemic. In 2022, Catherine released a new edition of her bestselling biography of King Charles III, titled Charles: The Heart of a King.
Catherine has a rich journalism career. She worked at The Economist and served as deputy editor at Business Traveller and International Management magazines. She also spent 11 years as a foreign correspondent for the German news weekly FOCUS.
In 2004, Catherine joined TIME as a senior editor. She went on to become the London Bureau Chief, TIME Europe Editor, and Editor at Large. Catherine co-founded Datum Future, a data and technology think tank, and sits on the advisory board of Noon, a media platform for women in midlife and beyond.
In 2019, Catherine ran as the lead candidate for the Women’s Equality Party in the European elections in London. She also served as President of the Foreign Press Association in London from 2003 to 2005. Catherine co-founded WOW—the Women of the World festival—and helped launch the Death Festival in 2022, which she co-curated. She also judged the 2018 Women’s Prize for Fiction.
Catherine has earned many accolades, including the FPA Story of the Year award in 2010 and a shortlist nomination for the Orwell Prize in 2011. She has also appeared in Total Politics’ Top Political Journalists and WIE Women in Excellence 2013. In 2016, she received the Progress 1000 Evening Standard Equality Champion award and, in 2018, the Oxford University Suffrage Champion award. That same year, Catherine shared the NatWest Spirit of Everywoman Award with Sandi Toksvig. She also ranked among the Gender Equality Top 100: Most Influential People in Global Policy in 2018.
After her husband, musician Andy Gill, passed away, Catherine took on his unfinished projects. She released two EPs by his band, Gang of Four, and served as the executive producer of a tribute album, The Problem of Leisure: A Celebration of Andy Gill and Gang of Four. The album featured globally renowned musicians and celebrated Andy’s legacy.
