First in the World Somewhere

PennyPepper has led an extraordinary life. She is a writer, an activist, a punkpioneer. She also happens to be disabled. In her absorbing memoir, Penny paintsa raucous picture of life, love, music and misadventure, from Thatcher’sbattleground of the mid-1980s through to the early Blair years.

Cravingfreedom from the home counties council estate where she grew up, Penny dreamsof moving to London and finding her way in the city’s punk scene. Without whatothers take for granted, she sets out armed only with her raw, burgeoningtalent to fight the social demons of indifference and bigotry, all whiledressed in leather bondage skirts, fishnets and hair extensions.

Thereare parties; there’s sex; there’s music. She exchanges letters with Morrissey.Ken Livingstonehelps her find a wheelchair-accessible flat. Her demo tape is reviewed in the NME and played on the radio. Her album Spiral Sky is No. 1 inGreece for a week. And there is opportunity – to join the radical beginnings ofthe disability rights movement.

First in the World Somewhere is the chronicle of her passions and herstruggles, told with startling honesty and a razor-sharp wit, fearless in theface of prejudice.