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First in the World Somewhere: The True Adventures of a Scribbler, Siren, Saucepot and Pioneer
Penny Pepper has led an extraordinary life. She is a writer. Poet. Punk. Pioneer. Activist. And she also happens to be disabled. In her absorbing memoir, which spans the mid-1980s up until the millennium, Penny paints a picture of life, love, sex, music, success, failure and misadventures in the UK punk scene of the late 20th century.
Craving freedom from the poor Chiltern Hill council estate where she grew up, Penny dreams of moving to London, of writing, of finding her way in the North London music scene. She doesn’t have what others take for granted; she is disabled. And she sets out with just her raw, burgeoning talent to fight the social demons of indifference, discrimination and out-right bigotry… all while wearing micro-mini leather bondage skirts, fishnets and hair extensions.
There are parties; there’s sex; there’s music. She exchanges letters with Morrissey. Ken Livingstone helps her find a wheelchair-accessible flat. Her demo tape is reviewed in the NME and played on the radio. Her 90s album Spiral Sky is No. 1 in Greece for a week. And there is opportunity – opportunity to join the radical beginnings of the disability rights movement.
First in the World Somewhere tells of her endless adventures. Through the years, there’s an overload of adventure, despair and joy. Often faced with prejudice, she fails, she suffers, she survives and she even sometimes succeeds. Penny does not deny her disability; rather she keeps it at the forefront of everything she stands for, and she tells her story with blood, heart and an undeniable wit.
Craving freedom from the poor Chiltern Hill council estate where she grew up, Penny dreams of moving to London, of writing, of finding her way in the North London music scene. She doesn’t have what others take for granted; she is disabled. And she sets out with just her raw, burgeoning talent to fight the social demons of indifference, discrimination and out-right bigotry… all while wearing micro-mini leather bondage skirts, fishnets and hair extensions.
There are parties; there’s sex; there’s music. She exchanges letters with Morrissey. Ken Livingstone helps her find a wheelchair-accessible flat. Her demo tape is reviewed in the NME and played on the radio. Her 90s album Spiral Sky is No. 1 in Greece for a week. And there is opportunity – opportunity to join the radical beginnings of the disability rights movement.
First in the World Somewhere tells of her endless adventures. Through the years, there’s an overload of adventure, despair and joy. Often faced with prejudice, she fails, she suffers, she survives and she even sometimes succeeds. Penny does not deny her disability; rather she keeps it at the forefront of everything she stands for, and she tells her story with blood, heart and an undeniable wit.
- GenresDisabilityMemoir
256 pages, Hardcover
Published December 1, 2017
About the author
Penny Pepper
102 books11 followersPenny Pepper’s recent memoir, First in the World Somewhere, launched at The Royal Festival Hall, London. It charts an extraordinary life in the indie-punk music scene from Thatcher’s brutal 80s to Blair’s Brit Pop 90s.
As a poet, Penny performs across the UK and her first poetry collection, Come Home Alive, came out on Burning Eye Books in September 2018. She also wrote the taboo-breaking book Desires Reborn. In 2013 she won a Creative Futures Literary Award.
As a poet, Penny performs across the UK and her first poetry collection, Come Home Alive, came out on Burning Eye Books in September 2018. She also wrote the taboo-breaking book Desires Reborn. In 2013 she won a Creative Futures Literary Award.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 7, 2021
This is a marvellous memoir from the irrepressible Penny Pepper. Her description of herself from the front of the book is Scribbler, Siren, Saucepot and Pioneer. She is a disability rights activist, feminist, musician in the punk tradition, writer of short stories and erotica and general thorn in the side of the establishment and inspiration to the rest of us.
A word first about the publisher, Unbound. Unbound is a publishing house where books are crowdfunded. You pitch a book idea to Unbound, if they accept they put the book idea with information on the site and people can pledge money towards publication. If you pledge money, once the book is published your name is listed in the back. A simple idea, but obviously very effective.
This is a very honest memoir, there is lots of laughter and humour, but sadness as well. Penny was born with Stills Disease, which she refers to as “the lurgy” throughout. It is important to emphasize that this isn’t a memoir about being disabled, but an account of one person’s struggle to be herself and to be independent.
On the surface this is an account of Penny’s life until the early 2000s, but it charts so many changes and developments in society. Music is one strand; like many of us Penny was inspired by punk and she has been referred to as a post punk musician. The story of Penny’s letters to and from Morrissey, meeting with Ian Dury and her own musical career is fascinating. Under the name Kata Kolbert, Penny played gigs and even had an album produced called Spiral Sky (number one in Greece for a week; hence the title of the book).
Another strand is Penny’s writing, liberated since the invention of the personal computer. She writes regularly for the Guardian, is writing a novel and some poetry. She has published two volumes of erotica where the central characters are disabled.
Friends, lovers and relationships figure strongly and like the rest of us there are triumphs and disasters. Penny pulls no punches and the descriptions of family life also took me back to the 70s and life and culture then. She describes a difficult relationship with her stepfather. She meets Tamsin in hospital and the development of their friendship based on music and their attitudes to surviving life develop until they move into a flat together.
There is a thread running through the book focussing on the struggles to lead an independent life. It starts in the old and grim warehouse type hospitals of Penny’s youth and the refusal of many professionals to accept that Penny can ever have any independence. Cringeworthy descriptions of the “there there” pat on head approaches of many of the well-meaning. Penny also charts the development of the disability rights movement: battles over access to places others take for granted, battles over access to transport, to toilets, to adaptions at home. There are encounters with social workers, slowly improving over years, until the times when money can be available to pay for a PA which is liberating. My own involvement in the social care system has charted these changes. Unfortunately the tide is now going in the other direction with the onset of austerity politics. The sort of budget Penny got for care in the late 1990s is increasingly more difficult to get. Some battles still need fighting.
Penny also writes with great humour and lightness of touch. In the early 1990s Penny received an educational grant from a charity whose patron is Lord Snowdon. She describes the rather posh do:
“I sit next to Freddie at one of the round tables. The cutlery’s too heavy for my small hands and I’m terrified of plopping food into my exposed cleavage. Somehow I get through lunch and then there are speeches, before we’re lined up ready for the presentation to Lord Snowdon.
I’m suddenly angry. This isn’t my natural habitat. I’m punk. I’m anti-capitalist. I’m anti the greedy rich. Yet here I am about to receive a cheque for which I’m not truly grateful. I find I don’t want to call him sir or lord and I’m not going to bow – a difficult movement for me on many fronts and also because I’m certain my tits will fall out.”
Penny is earthy, swears a lot and tells it how it is. She is a remarkable woman, her journalism is sharp and perceptive and this moving memoir charts her life and battles. It is very human and life affirming and it made me laugh and cry in equal measure. It also made me angry and reminded how far we have to go as a society in our struggle for justice and equality.
A word first about the publisher, Unbound. Unbound is a publishing house where books are crowdfunded. You pitch a book idea to Unbound, if they accept they put the book idea with information on the site and people can pledge money towards publication. If you pledge money, once the book is published your name is listed in the back. A simple idea, but obviously very effective.
This is a very honest memoir, there is lots of laughter and humour, but sadness as well. Penny was born with Stills Disease, which she refers to as “the lurgy” throughout. It is important to emphasize that this isn’t a memoir about being disabled, but an account of one person’s struggle to be herself and to be independent.
On the surface this is an account of Penny’s life until the early 2000s, but it charts so many changes and developments in society. Music is one strand; like many of us Penny was inspired by punk and she has been referred to as a post punk musician. The story of Penny’s letters to and from Morrissey, meeting with Ian Dury and her own musical career is fascinating. Under the name Kata Kolbert, Penny played gigs and even had an album produced called Spiral Sky (number one in Greece for a week; hence the title of the book).
Another strand is Penny’s writing, liberated since the invention of the personal computer. She writes regularly for the Guardian, is writing a novel and some poetry. She has published two volumes of erotica where the central characters are disabled.
Friends, lovers and relationships figure strongly and like the rest of us there are triumphs and disasters. Penny pulls no punches and the descriptions of family life also took me back to the 70s and life and culture then. She describes a difficult relationship with her stepfather. She meets Tamsin in hospital and the development of their friendship based on music and their attitudes to surviving life develop until they move into a flat together.
There is a thread running through the book focussing on the struggles to lead an independent life. It starts in the old and grim warehouse type hospitals of Penny’s youth and the refusal of many professionals to accept that Penny can ever have any independence. Cringeworthy descriptions of the “there there” pat on head approaches of many of the well-meaning. Penny also charts the development of the disability rights movement: battles over access to places others take for granted, battles over access to transport, to toilets, to adaptions at home. There are encounters with social workers, slowly improving over years, until the times when money can be available to pay for a PA which is liberating. My own involvement in the social care system has charted these changes. Unfortunately the tide is now going in the other direction with the onset of austerity politics. The sort of budget Penny got for care in the late 1990s is increasingly more difficult to get. Some battles still need fighting.
Penny also writes with great humour and lightness of touch. In the early 1990s Penny received an educational grant from a charity whose patron is Lord Snowdon. She describes the rather posh do:
“I sit next to Freddie at one of the round tables. The cutlery’s too heavy for my small hands and I’m terrified of plopping food into my exposed cleavage. Somehow I get through lunch and then there are speeches, before we’re lined up ready for the presentation to Lord Snowdon.
I’m suddenly angry. This isn’t my natural habitat. I’m punk. I’m anti-capitalist. I’m anti the greedy rich. Yet here I am about to receive a cheque for which I’m not truly grateful. I find I don’t want to call him sir or lord and I’m not going to bow – a difficult movement for me on many fronts and also because I’m certain my tits will fall out.”
Penny is earthy, swears a lot and tells it how it is. She is a remarkable woman, her journalism is sharp and perceptive and this moving memoir charts her life and battles. It is very human and life affirming and it made me laugh and cry in equal measure. It also made me angry and reminded how far we have to go as a society in our struggle for justice and equality.
February 25, 2019
“I am a writer, I am a punk and I am passionate. And I will never be put into a home.”
Penny Pepper is a truly amazing woman.... Bawdy, determined and multi-talented, this is the story of Penny’s journey to lead an independent life on her own terms, in a world that makes that incredibly hard. She’s been a punk singer-songwriter, a poet, a writer of erotica, an activist and journalist. Oh... and she’s disabled. The writing style didn’t always work for me, but both her battles and her escapades are beyond inspiring. A memoir with lots of heart and a ton of 80s nostalgia...
Penny Pepper is a truly amazing woman.... Bawdy, determined and multi-talented, this is the story of Penny’s journey to lead an independent life on her own terms, in a world that makes that incredibly hard. She’s been a punk singer-songwriter, a poet, a writer of erotica, an activist and journalist. Oh... and she’s disabled. The writing style didn’t always work for me, but both her battles and her escapades are beyond inspiring. A memoir with lots of heart and a ton of 80s nostalgia...
April 22, 2019
A memoir that is as remarkable for the power and clarity of its writing as it is for the exposure of prejudice experienced by the author, whether that's coming from people in the 'music industry', or neighbours who don't want her to move in next to them. Disabled people go unheard in our society.
Attempts to narrow the Diversity Gap in publishing mean that BAME, LGBT, and working class voices are getting a chance at publication, but disabled people - where are their stories? Here is one writer whose humour, tenacity, and talent have carried her far from the life marked out for her in institutions to one distinguished by her independence of spirit, her campaigning for disabled people's rights, and her career as a writer.
Attempts to narrow the Diversity Gap in publishing mean that BAME, LGBT, and working class voices are getting a chance at publication, but disabled people - where are their stories? Here is one writer whose humour, tenacity, and talent have carried her far from the life marked out for her in institutions to one distinguished by her independence of spirit, her campaigning for disabled people's rights, and her career as a writer.
October 4, 2017
Thank you to Unbound for providing me with an advance copy of Penny Pepper's memoir, First in the World Somewhere: The True Adventures of a Scribbler, Siren, Saucepot, and Pioneer, in exchange for an honest review.
PLOT- Penny Pepper's life has been shaped by a severe and crippling form of arthritis that she has had since childhood. However, she has not allowed her disability to define her. Coming of age in England during the early 80's, Pepper became enamored with the punk culture and started a career singing under her alter-ego, Kata Kolbert. In addition to performing, she also became a writer and advocate for disability rights.
LIKE- Pepper is a strong woman and a role model. I love her fighting spirit; the way she continues to fight for her dreams, even when the odds are stacked against her. I admire that she isn't afraid to share her fears and struggles.
I had never heard of Pepper's condition; an arthritis that is so severe, that she requires a wheelchair and needs aids to do tasks like going to the bathroom. The bathroom situation is a really big deal, because Pepper does not have funding for a twenty-four hour caregiver and although during parts of her life she is either married or living with a friend, when she is alone in the house, she is very vulnerable. She often does not have the strength for tasks such as using a bathroom without assistance. Pepper's condition constantly puts her at odds with the basic human desire to be self-sufficient.
The title of the book comes from Pepper finding out that she was the top of the charts for Indie music in Italy and Greece. The title also stands for Pepper's fight for change. She might not actually be the first disabled person who sings in a punk band or the first disabled person writing about her challenges, but it doesn't matter. She doesn't need to be first to be making an important contribution.
I like the open, frank writing that Pepper does regarding her sexuality. It seems like many of the doctors and other professionals that she encounters do not treat her like a female or someone with sexual desires. At one doctor's appointment, it is suggested that she have a hysterectomy. She was in her twenties. I don't think the suggestion is necessarily insulting, but the way that it is suggested, so flippantly, as if this wouldn't be a sensitive subject for Pepper, is horrific.
Tamsin, Pepper's best friend and first roommate is another strong force in First in the World Somewhere. Tamsin has a similar disability, and although she tries living on her own with Pepper, the two part ways when Tamsin envisions a different type of care for herself. This was an interesting dynamic, with both women attempting to be independent, but also coming to terms with their individual needs.
DISLIKE- I'm an American married to a Brit and even though I picked up on a lot of the terminology and "Britishness" of the memoir, I wondered how much would have gone over my head without my husband. Pepper is very involved in politics of the time ( mostly 80's-90's) and although I knew some of the players, such as Margaret Thatcher, I think being American and also a little younger than Pepper, made me feel lost in these sections.
RECOMMEND- Yes. First in the World Somewhere is a wonderful memoir about empowerment, overcoming obstacles, and following your dreams. Pepper's story would be an excellent pick for disability advocates and generally, an important read for everyone. Her openness with regard to her challenges will make readers more understanding and compassionate.
PLOT- Penny Pepper's life has been shaped by a severe and crippling form of arthritis that she has had since childhood. However, she has not allowed her disability to define her. Coming of age in England during the early 80's, Pepper became enamored with the punk culture and started a career singing under her alter-ego, Kata Kolbert. In addition to performing, she also became a writer and advocate for disability rights.
LIKE- Pepper is a strong woman and a role model. I love her fighting spirit; the way she continues to fight for her dreams, even when the odds are stacked against her. I admire that she isn't afraid to share her fears and struggles.
I had never heard of Pepper's condition; an arthritis that is so severe, that she requires a wheelchair and needs aids to do tasks like going to the bathroom. The bathroom situation is a really big deal, because Pepper does not have funding for a twenty-four hour caregiver and although during parts of her life she is either married or living with a friend, when she is alone in the house, she is very vulnerable. She often does not have the strength for tasks such as using a bathroom without assistance. Pepper's condition constantly puts her at odds with the basic human desire to be self-sufficient.
The title of the book comes from Pepper finding out that she was the top of the charts for Indie music in Italy and Greece. The title also stands for Pepper's fight for change. She might not actually be the first disabled person who sings in a punk band or the first disabled person writing about her challenges, but it doesn't matter. She doesn't need to be first to be making an important contribution.
I like the open, frank writing that Pepper does regarding her sexuality. It seems like many of the doctors and other professionals that she encounters do not treat her like a female or someone with sexual desires. At one doctor's appointment, it is suggested that she have a hysterectomy. She was in her twenties. I don't think the suggestion is necessarily insulting, but the way that it is suggested, so flippantly, as if this wouldn't be a sensitive subject for Pepper, is horrific.
Tamsin, Pepper's best friend and first roommate is another strong force in First in the World Somewhere. Tamsin has a similar disability, and although she tries living on her own with Pepper, the two part ways when Tamsin envisions a different type of care for herself. This was an interesting dynamic, with both women attempting to be independent, but also coming to terms with their individual needs.
DISLIKE- I'm an American married to a Brit and even though I picked up on a lot of the terminology and "Britishness" of the memoir, I wondered how much would have gone over my head without my husband. Pepper is very involved in politics of the time ( mostly 80's-90's) and although I knew some of the players, such as Margaret Thatcher, I think being American and also a little younger than Pepper, made me feel lost in these sections.
RECOMMEND- Yes. First in the World Somewhere is a wonderful memoir about empowerment, overcoming obstacles, and following your dreams. Pepper's story would be an excellent pick for disability advocates and generally, an important read for everyone. Her openness with regard to her challenges will make readers more understanding and compassionate.
February 18, 2021
I'm not usually a memoir fan, but there's something oddly compulsive about Penny Pepper's unapologetically witty and fearless book that keeps me glued from the very first page. Pepper documents her bohemian lifestyle from the mid-1980s in England through to the early Blair years, as she discovers her love for writing, punk music, sex, and the disability rights movement.
Pepper was born with Still's disease (juvenile arthritis) which she refers to as the lurgy throughout. The memoir reads to me as a fearless cross between The Bell Jar and Bridget Jones's Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, veering between the many oppressions experienced by people with disabilities, Penny's romantic and familial relationships, and her creative pursuits. There is a lot more sex and swearing than I expected, which made me reflect on how rarely people with disabilities are portrayed in society.
But Pepper is more than her disability: the true focus is on her determination to create a place for herself in society and live an independent and alternative lifestyle as a writer and punk musician. There are highs and lows, all sharply described with Pepper's perceptive wit, and I come away feeling inspired.
Side note, this book is published by Unbound, who crowdsource books for publication. An amazing example of what works can be produced by a non-traditional publishing model.
READ THIS IF... You like brave women memoirs. Struggling to think of a comp since I don't read in this space often!
Pepper was born with Still's disease (juvenile arthritis) which she refers to as the lurgy throughout. The memoir reads to me as a fearless cross between The Bell Jar and Bridget Jones's Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, veering between the many oppressions experienced by people with disabilities, Penny's romantic and familial relationships, and her creative pursuits. There is a lot more sex and swearing than I expected, which made me reflect on how rarely people with disabilities are portrayed in society.
But Pepper is more than her disability: the true focus is on her determination to create a place for herself in society and live an independent and alternative lifestyle as a writer and punk musician. There are highs and lows, all sharply described with Pepper's perceptive wit, and I come away feeling inspired.
Side note, this book is published by Unbound, who crowdsource books for publication. An amazing example of what works can be produced by a non-traditional publishing model.
READ THIS IF... You like brave women memoirs. Struggling to think of a comp since I don't read in this space often!
April 1, 2019
I got hooked by the Morrissey correspondence, but Pepper offers so much more in this memoir. A punk chronicling London in the 80s. A writer sharing her process with us, her discouragements and victories. An activist weaving a narrative of building power with other people with disabilities, of the hard work of laying aside what she is expected to be — and not be — and build her own landscape of love and sex and activism and community.
April 21, 2019
Yeah ! I really liked it! A very different slant to the whole music scene in the punk/80s era etc. The tale is as much about friendship and the author weaves the importance of relationships from her parents onwards on her rip roaring ride which just happens to have been in a wheelchair.
September 23, 2024
Took me a while to read this book as I originally thought it was fiction 😅 I’d never heard of the author before and how much she’s accomplished in her life. Powerful stories of hardship but also the change she helped bring by fighting for herself.
July 10, 2024
This book felt so groundbreaking and incredible. I was so sad when it was over and I’ve been recommending it to people since I started it.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews