Who are you?
Hello! I’m Jess Pan, a freelance journalist who also works in a tiny indie bookshop in London. You might have read my book SORRY I’M LATE, I DIDN’T WANT TO COME, which is about the year I spent talking to strangers, performing stand-up comedy, traveling solo, trying out improv, going on friend dates and doing a bunch of terrifying extrovert-y things (I’m an introvert). I interview brilliant people to guide me through these nightmares.
I love hearing from people who have read it. Maybe that is you! Thank you for finding me again.
I also write for the Guardian, The Cut, and various other places.
What is this newsletter?
While I write my next book, I wanted to give updates on what happened AFTER I did all those insane things in Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come. This is a place to share with you the advice, friends and things that stuck with me.
I also recently started working an indie bookshop in London and I LOVE it. Every day there feels like living in the Nora Ephron film You Got Mail (the good bits before it shuts down).
(Above: Me.)
And occasionally it feels like like working at the bookshop in the film Notting Hill.
(Also, me.)
And -
(Me, as well.) We have a ladder in the bookshop JUST like this one!
I will also be writing various essays that are the sorts of things that used to be published on (now defunct) websites The Hairpin and The Toast and Lenny Letter, all places that I used to love and write for.
What else have you done?
After graduating from Brown University, I lived and worked in Beijing for 2.5 years as an editor of an English expat magazine. After completing my Master’s degree in journalism from RMIT in Melbourne, I spent a year as a TV reporter in Beijing and now live in London.
Where else can I find you?
You can follow me on Instagram @jessypanpan.
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