Background
Barton was born and grew up in the village of Newburgh in Lancashire, and was educated at Upholland High School and read for an English degree at Worcester College, Oxford.
Barton was born and grew up in the village of Newburgh in Lancashire, and was educated at Upholland High School and read for an English degree at Worcester College, Oxford.
She writes mainly for The Guardian, and published her first novel, Twenty-One Locks, in 2010. Following graduation, she began writing for The Guardian from 2000 specialising in writing features. She has also written for Q magazine, The Word, and Intelligent Life, and broadcast on British Broadcasting Corporation Radio 4.
Much of her writing relates to rock and popular music, and until late 2011 she wrote a fortnightly column about music for The Guardian"s Film and Music supplement, called "Hail, Hail, Rock and Roll", as well as a weekly column on women"s issues for the newspaper"s G2 supplement, called "The View from a Broad".
Her first novel, Twenty-One Locks, recounts the story of "a young small-town girl facing the biggest decision of her life." Barton has said she is working on a second novel and a non-fiction book about music A series of short stories about Northern soul was broadcast on Radio 4 in 2011.
Her favourite writers include Gerard Manley Hopkins, Richard Yates, Bruce Chatwin, William Carlos Williams, Electrical Engineer Cummings, Raymond Carver, Lorrie Moore, and Joyce Johnson. Barton married in 2004.
Quotations: "a young small-town girl facing the biggest decision of her life.".
