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Joan Alison Smith (born 27 August 1953) is an English novelist, journalist and human rights activist, who is a former chair of the Writers in Prison committee in the English section of International PEN. ==Life and work== The daughter of a park superintendent, Smith was educated at a state school before reading Latin at the University of Reading in the early 1970s.〔http://irisonline.org.uk/index.php/interviews/interview-archive/29-civitas-smith-iris-meets-joan-smith〕 After a spell as a journalist in local radio in Manchester, she joined the staff of the ''Sunday Times'' in 1979 and stayed at the newspaper until 1984, although Smith still contributes book reviews, usually on crime fiction, to the publication. She has had a regular column in the ''The Guardians Weekend supplement, also freelancing for the newspaper and has contributed to ''The Independent'', the ''Independent on Sunday'', and the ''New Statesman''. In her non-fiction Smith displays a commitment to atheism, feminism (''Misogynies: Reflections on Myths and Malice'', 1989) and republicanism; she has travelled extensively and this is reflected in her articles. She is scornful of popular culture and once gave away her television set to her ex-husband, although she acquired a new set almost a decade later. On 15 September 2010, Smith, along with 54 other public figures, signed an open letter published in ''The Guardian'', stating their opposition to Pope Benedict XVI's state visit to the UK. In November 2011 she gave evidence to the Leveson Inquiry into press and media standards following the telephone hacking practised by the ''News of the World''. She testified that she considered celebrities thought they could control press content if they put themselves into the public domain when, in reality the opposite was more likely. She repeated a claim that she has persistently adhered to in her writings that the press is misogynistic. Although Smith was opposed to the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, disputing the false claims about the Saddam Hussein regime's possession of Weapon of mass destruction, she has taken a different view during the Syrian civil war. As a consequence of the Syrian refugee crisis,〔Joan Smith ("Children pay for our failure over Syria" ), ''The Independent on Sunday'', 25 August 2013〕 and the 2013 Ghouta attacks using chemical weapons, she has called for military invention.〔Joan Smith ("MPs are scarred by the war in Iraq" ), ''The Independent on Sunday'', 1 September 2013〕 Outside the UK, Smith is probably best known for the Loretta Lawson series of crime novels which were published between 1987 and 1995. ''What Will Survive'' (2007) is a novel set in Lebanon in 1997 concerning a journalist's investigation into the death of a model and anti-landmine campaigner. Her work of non-fiction, ''Down with the Royals'' (Biteback) appeared in 2015.〔Ben East ("Down With the Royals; What Have the Immigrants Ever Done For Us?; Why Women Need Quotas – review" ), ''The Observer'', 5 April 2015〕 She is a keen supporter of Classics in state schools, describing the 1997-2010 Labour government's failure to act on the matter as "hardly their finest hour"〔 and is a patron of The Iris Project. Smith is a supporter of the political organisation, Republic and an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society. Joan Smith was appointed the Executive Director of Hacked Off in late May 2014 in succession to Brian Cathcart.〔Ian Burrell ("Joan Smith becomes president of press reform campaign Hacked Off" ), ''The Independent'', 29 May 2014〕 Smith assumed the position in June.〔("Journalist and hacking victim Joan Smith to take over leadership of Hacked Off " ), ''Press Gazette'', 29 May 2014〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Joan Smith」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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