Born in Bathgate, West Lothian, in 1986, Fern Brady is a standup comedian and author. Her broadcasting credits include Channel 4’s Taskmaster, 8 Out of 10 Cats and Radio 4’s The News Quiz. Her memoir, Strong Female Character, about her autism diagnosis in adulthood, is shortlisted for the inaugural Nero book awards nonfiction prize (announced on 16 January). The book comes out in paperback on 11 January and tickets for Brady’s tour, I Gave You Milk to Drink, are on sale now.
Congratulations on the award nomination. How does that feel?
It’s great! People had assumed that I was writing a flipping comedy book, and although there’s nothing wrong with that, sometimes comedians – and other people – just do a book for the sake of it. For this, I wrote a proposal in secret, approached my agent with it, and he was, like, “Oh! I didn’t know you were writing something like this.”
