Why is pear juice suddenly part of drinking culture?
After suddenly finding herself surrounded with people talking about pears, writer Lizzy O’Riordan decided to investigate the alleged hangover preventer.
Lizzy O'Riordan
Hi, I'm Lizzy, a journalist and writer.
I have a keen interest in culture, people, literature,
art, food and drinks.
I'm currently a Senior Reporter at Drinks Retailing. I previously
worked as the Assistant Editor of the arts and
culture magazine Leftlion.
I have a masters degree in Magazine Journalism from
City, University of London.
My Articles
A guide to: Georgian wine
Georgian wines are growing in popularity at a rapid pace. Lizzy O’Riordan heads to Tbilisi to find out why
A guide to Sicily’s chillable light red wine: Frappato
As Mount Etna watches over Sicily and street vendors sell cannoli and arancini, Lizzy O’Riordan arrives on the island with a singular mission: to learn more about the grape Frappato.
What’s it like making wine in Lebanon? - Drinks Retailing
Earlier this week, Lizzy O’Riordan caught up with two Lebanese producers to talk about war, wine and how the trade can support the country’s winemakers.
Gen Z aren’t anti-alcohol, but we don’t worship it either – opinion
There’s a rumour going around that Gen Z don’t like to drink. We stay home, we avoid alcohol, and we haven’t much interest in the pub.
Author Jim Gibson Lifts the Lid on His Short Story Collection, The Bygones
‘When I met the devil I was twelve years old’, opens Jim Gibson's new book The Bygones - the short story collection set in a fictional village inspired by the author’s own. Combining the supernatural with the mundane, it’s a place you’ll find a boy meeting the devil, a whole host of disillusioned young people and a small town market on the verge of collapse. Published by Tangerine Press, who champion authors on the fringes of society, it aims to tell the stories of working-class protagonists, pa...
Why Weird Girl Fiction Speaks to Something in All of us
We Look Back at the Mushroom, Nottingham’s Groundbreaking Anti-War Bookstore
It’s 1972. Swedish supergroup ABBA have just formed, the novel Watership Down has recently been published, and you find yourself flicking through a stack of paperbacks in Nottingham’s newly opened Mushroom Bookshop. Located on 261 Arkwright Street, couple Chris Cook Cann and Keith Leonard have rented the building off of the City Council for £5 a week and taken residence above the shop. Previously operating as a jeweller, it’s the tail end of the Vietnam War overseas (which will be over in 1975),
Bella Ramsey, Nottingham-Born Star of The Last of Us, Visits to Chat Projects, Platforms and Perfecting Performances
It feels like joining us at LeftLion, in a little office that we just vacuumed for the first time in about a year, is a bit different to chatting to the likes of GQ and Jimmy Kimmel… So, first of all, thank you for taking the time to visit us. But secondly, how have you found that process? Has it been difficult to adjust to the media frenzy?
First off, thank you for having me! But yeah, it’s been weird. I largely managed to avoid press right up until about September, when Catherine Called Birdy
First off, thank you for having me! But yeah, it’s been weird. I largely managed to avoid press right up until about September, when Catherine Called Birdy
Writer Michael Pedersen Chats New Book Boy Friends Ahead of His Visit to Waterstones Nottingham
“I very much see it as a love letter to friendship,” Michael Pedersen says when I ask him to describe his new book, Boy Friends, published by Faber last month. “To friends here, there and elsewhere, the friends we don’t nearly see enough, the friendships that have expired out of our social orbit somehow, and to those that have left this world in a more temporal sense.”
As we speak ahead of his event at Nottingham’s Waterstones, he muses that his new work is “a love letter, a paean, a sort of po
As we speak ahead of his event at Nottingham’s Waterstones, he muses that his new work is “a love letter, a paean, a sort of po
Food Review: Little Bricks
Little Bricks isn’t new to me. I’ve spent many a morning perched on their mid-century furniture, stuffing my face with breakfast latkes and pouring tea into little square teacups. I’m no stranger to their Turkish eggs or fruit Konfitüre-covered waffles, and I consider myself well-acquainted with the quirky local artwork that lines the walls of the eatery.
Our Editorial Assistant Tries Out Six of the Toughest Sports Nottingham Has to Offer
Some people find sports invigorating. Others, awe-inspiring. But for me, the most accurate word would be intimidating, my total historical lack of skill putting me off most athletic endeavours. Mix that in with a healthy dose of school PE-induced shame and you’ve got someone who was not looking forward to the sports edition of LeftLion. Naturally, therefore, the office picked me to be the roving reporter this month, taking on the challenge of trying six new sports for the very first time…
I beg
I beg
The Loneliest Fear Of All: Graham Caveney Talks His New Book On Agoraphobia
Thirty-plus years together and I still don’t know you. So writes Graham Caveney on the first page of On Agoraphobia - his new book detailing the slippery anxiety disorder that he’s been living with since the 1980s. The one that’s caused intense periods of isolation, identity crises and half a lifetime of inner turmoil, which has prevented him from attending major life events and, at its most extreme, from leaving his own home.
Yet, despite his long-standing relationship with the disorder, which
Yet, despite his long-standing relationship with the disorder, which
We Catch Up With Marcus Brown to Learn All About Food as a Subculture and His New Culture Magazine Picnic
Instagram chefs with cult followings, bagel shops with viral fame and restaurant lines that twist all the way down the street. Things are shifting when it comes to food. Gone are the days of uninspired dishes and stale predictable restaurants; food is exciting, coveted, cool. Food, Marcus Brown tells me, has become its own subculture. One that inspired him to found his own magazine, Picnic, a publication with food at its core, capturing and celebrating this emerging landscape.
Conceptualised by
Conceptualised by
"I Wanted to Celebrate the Resilience of the Human Being" - Artist Susie MacMurray on Witness at the National Justice Museum
Walking into the National Justice Museum’s courtyard, you’ll spot six sculptures made of very heavy rope. The material means that they’ve started to sag over time, resulting in each having a distinct shape and personality. This is Suzie MacMurray’s new exhibition, Witness - a site-specific art installation commissioned by the National Justice Museum.
The installation is built to engage with the long history of our once County Gaol, and to spark conversations about the justice and injustice t
The installation is built to engage with the long history of our once County Gaol, and to spark conversations about the justice and injustice t
