I’m a freelance journalist specialising in feature writing, editing audio and video, design and managing publications. I also programme and develop events focused on media, journalism and accessibility to creative industries with arts, civic and educational organisations.
From time to time, I work in higher education. Most, recently I taught on Manchester Metropolitan University’s BA Multimedia Journalism course and was as researcher for Goldsmiths, University of London on a nationwide audit of sports facilities in the UK.
As a freelancer I’ve written for and worked with GQ, the British Film Institute, Bloomsbury, Rough Trade Books, Red Bull and more. I’m a multimedia features editor for Quartersnacks, the associate editor of Closer Skateboarding magazine, and the founding editor of Skate Bylines, a publication and organisation for long-form journalism about skateboarding culture and its global media industry.
Contact
farrangolding@hotmail.co.uk
Journalism
Freelance journalist — (2013 – present)
Select publications and clients: GQ and GQ Sports, British Film Institute, Bloomsbury Publishing, Rough Trade Books, Vans, Red Bull, Huck Magazine, Hyde Park Picture House, Simple Magic, Vladimir Film Festival, Free Skate Mag
Senior correspondent and multimedia features editor — Quartersnacks (2019—present)
Founding editor and creative director — Skate Bylines (2024—present)
Associate editor — Closer Skateboarding (2022—present)
Editorial and content manager — Slam City Skates (2021—2022, contributing writer, 2019—2021)
Editor-at-large — Sidewalk Magazine (2013—2018)
Higher education: teaching and research
Tutor in multimedia journalism — Manchester Metropolitan University (2025—2026)
Researcher for Yorkshire and Humberside (UK Skateable Spaces Audit) — Goldsmiths, University of London and Betong Park, commissioned by Skateboard GB and funded by Sport England (2025)
Associate lecturer in journalism — University Academy 92, Manchester (2023—2024)
PhD research assistant for Dr Harry Meadley (‘The Art of Skating Institutions’) and co-founder of Civic Leeds — Leeds Beckett University (2022—2024)
Personal education
BA with First Class Hons in Multimedia Journalism — Manchester Metropolitan University (2016—2019)
In conversation with graphic designer Craig Oldham for ‘The Shining: A Visual and Cultural Haunting’. Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds, 2023. Ph: Ollie Jenkins 
‘First Light: Creative Culture and Media Making’ panel during Skate Nottingham’s ‘Skateboarding in the City III’ festival. From right to left: Farran Golding, Sam Ashley, Lizzie Heath, Alexis Lewis and Joe Allen. Ph: Tom Quigley 
Presenting at Slow Impact: ‘Prose Spotlight: Who Makes Skateboarding Media?’. Tempe, Arizona, 2026. Ph: Greg Navarro
Events, talks, panels and film screenings
2026
British Film Institute: In Conversation with Spike Jonze
Part of ‘PUSH PLAY: Skate Culture on Film’
BFI Southbank, London, UK
Host
Sports Media Education Association: ‘Breaking the Mould: Supporting Women and Niche Specialists in Sports Media’
University of Salford, Media City, Salford, UK
Panellist
Slow Impact: ‘Prose Spotlight — Who Makes Skateboarding Media?’
Part of ‘Paper Sessions’ hosted by the College Skateboarding Educational Foundation (CSEF)
Tempe, Arizona, USA
Presenter
2025
Wakefield Civic Society: ‘Skateboarding in Wakefield: Past, Present and Future?’
Wakefield Town Hall, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, UK
Guest speaker
Skate Nottingham: ‘First Light — Creative Culture and Media Making’
Part of ‘Skateboarding In The City III’, supported by the National Lottery Community Fund
The People’s Hall, Nottingham, UK
Development and panel chair
2024
Manchester Metropolitan University: ’10 Years of Multimedia Journalism’
Part of 200 Years of Manchester Metropolitan University
Grosvener East Building, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK
Panelist and course alumni
Rough Trade Books and Barnsley Libraries Book Festival: ‘The Shining: A Visual And Cultural Haunting’ with Craig Oldham
The Parkway Cinema, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK
Host
2023
Vladimir Film Festival: Quartersnacks ‘Favorite Spot’ Screening and in conversation with Dr Paul O’Connor discussing ‘Grey Spaces of Polluted Leisure’
Kino Valle, Pula, Croatia
Filmmaker
Rough Trade Books: ‘The Shining: A Visual And Cultural Haunting’ with Craig Oldham
Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK
Host
2022
Hyde Park Picure House presents ‘Favorite Spot’: A Quartersnacks Series
Northern Monk Refectory, Leeds (part of HPPH’s ‘On the Road’ programme)
Filmmaker and event organiser
2019 and 2018
Louder Than Words Festival: In Conversation with Craig Oldham
The Palace Hotel, Manchester, UK
Host
Louder Than Words Festival: BUBBLEGUM Screening and Q&A
The Palace Hotel, Manchester, UK
Filmaker
BUBBLEGUM: Exploring John Carptenter’s ‘They Live’ premiere
Village Books, Leeds, UK
Filmmaker
Louder Than Words Festival: In Conversation with Gemma Cairney
The Palace Hotel, Manchester, UK
Co-host
Publications
Now and Then: A History of Skateboarding in Wakefield, West Yorkshire (co-authored with Ben Powell)
Writing, design, creative direction, marketing, production and sales
2025
Safety Net
Photography, design, production
Self-published, 2024
Piece To Camera / Troubleshooting
Photography, design, production
Self-published, 2023
AVE, photo: O’Meally
Writing, design, creative direction, production, marketing
Vans, 2019
Press
“Authentic, eloquent and 100% invested in the worlds of the individuals being platformed.”
— Dr Indigo Willing
Track Radio: Daytime with Sanny Rudravajhala (2026)
I was interviewed about skateboarding, the Olympics and public space for Track Radio, Britain’s only sports and music station, which is available to listen to below.
Simple Magic: ‘Skateboarding Stories of The Year’
• 2025 for the Skate Bylines story ‘In Dreams — Nick Jensen on the Isle Skateboards Curtain Call’
• 2024 for the Quartersnacks story ‘It Feels Like You’re Both Getting The Clip — A Reappraisal of Fisheye Cinematography’
• 2023 for the GQ story ‘Alexis Sablone and Converse Have Made The Next Great Skate Shoe’
• 2022 for the Closer Skateboarding story ‘Kevin Spanky Long: Character Witness’
Simple Magic: ‘Gates of steel’
I was interviewed for this investigation into the strange phenomenon of AI agents sending pitches to magazine editors.
Mostly Skateboarding podcast: ‘Magazine Covers and Skate Bylines with Farran Golding’ (2026)
Beyond Boards podcast (2023)
Village Psychic: ‘Farran Golding in TROUBLESHOOTING‘ (2023)
Gender-equity programs, urban play and safe spaces for women and nontraditional skateboarders (Winston Churchill Trust, 2025)
Featured and interviewed in the chapter “Leadership, Agitating and Change-Making”, examining my work in skateboarding media, primarily as the founder of Skate Bylines
Skateboarding and the Senses: Skills, Surfaces and Spaces (Routledge, 2024)
My journalism for Quartersnacks and community engagement with Civic Leeds is cited throughout this book in the ‘Routledge Focus on Sport, Culture and Society’ series
Press for Skate Bylines
“The absolute best example of independent media being executed with love, care and effortless expertise.” — Matt Barr, founder of All Conditions Media and host of Looking Sideways Podcast
“[A] fabulous hub for skateboarding journalism.” — Natalie Porter, founder of Womxn Skate History and author of Girl Gangs, Zines, and Powerslides: A History of Badass Women Skateboarders (ECW Press)
“A real prestige vehicle for skateboarding.” — Paul O’Connor, author of Skateboarding and Religion (Palgrave Macmillan)
Press for my Quartersnacks ‘Favorite Spot’ series
Curbed / New York Magazine: ‘Have You Heard About This Bench?’ (2021)
Mostly Skateboarding Podcast: ‘Farran Golding on Favorite Spots and Mark Suciu’ (2021)
“Amongst the best of our new skate media, Farran Golding’s ‘Favorite Spot’ series blends archival video with the voices of skaters who know, and likely love, these places better than anyone. Golding’s curation is as thoughtful and effective as his silent role in these rich, ranging, and extremely fun conversations. As our lives are increasingly defined by learning how to ignore, each new ‘Favorite Spot’ is a cause for settling in, hunkering down, and opening all receptors.” — Kyle Beachy, author of The Most Fun Thing: Dispatches From A Skateboard Life (2022)
“[‘Favorite Spot’] provides a remarkable reflection on how skateboarders connect with objects in urban space and end up making them their own.” — Paul O’Connor, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Exeter (2021)
“In another compelling “Favorite Spot” entry by Farran Golding for Quartersnacks, [Stu] Kirst narrates a half-decade of abject failure. […] Committing to such suffering is admirable in our intracultural masochism. In skateboarding, this level of failure in search of success is mythologized, baked into the DNA of the sport itself … As Kirst himself attests [sic] “The [spot] sucks. It’s a foot-and-a-half wide on top. It’s steep, and the ground sucks. It was cold when I did it, and it took me five years. That’s all there is to know about it. I don’t think I learned anything from it.” While that may seem bleak, there is a beauty to it; you just have to crane your neck to catch the right angle, to see the path down.” — Cole Nowicki, Simple Magic (2023)
Colleagues
I’ve had the pleasure of working, communicating and bouncing ideas around with the following people. None of them are my formal “colleagues”, so to speak, but I enjoy and respect their work and vouch for them wholeheartedly. So, if you’ve made it this far, you could do worse than checking them out too. (Even hire them for a gig, maybe?)
Alex Coles
journalist, video editor and motion designer (USA)
Anthony Pappalardo
journalist and copywriter (USA)
Cole Nowicki
writer, author, publisher and founder, Simple Magic (Canada)
Chris Lawton
writer, educator, community engagement and founder, Skate Nottingham (Nottingham, UK)
Greg Navarro
videographer and editor (New York, USA)
Harry Meadley
artist and educator (Leeds, UK)
Ian Browning
journalist and copywriter (New York, USA)
Josh Sabini
journalist and photographer (Melbourne, Australia)
Natalie Porter
author, archivist and founder, Womxn Skateboard History (Canada)
Norma Ibarra
photographer and marketer (Canada/worldwide)
Raisa Abal
photographer and founder, Dolores Magazine (Barcelona, Spain)
Robin Kirkham
graphic designer and co-founder, An Endless Supply (Birmingham, UK)