Hi, I’m Farran Golding.
I’m a freelance journalist whose work is multimedia focused. I write feature articles, edit and produce video and podcasts, and use graphic design, photography and events to communicate stories.
I teach journalism at Manchester Metropolitan University and undertake speaking engagements and projects with creative organisations, academic institutions and corporate clients. I also have a background in community engagement, applying journalistic practices and marketing skills to projects with arts and civic institutions.
I’m a member of the National Union of Journalists (Manchester and Salford branch) and founder of Skate Bylines, a publisher of long-form journalism about skateboarding with an additional focus on the workings of skateboarding media.
Contact
farrangolding@hotmail.co.uk
Journalism
Senior correspondent, 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)
Select publications and clients: GQ and GQ Sports, Nike, Converse, Vans, Red Bull, Rough Trade Books, Free Skate Mag, Huck Magazine, Northern Monk Brew Co., Hyde Park Picture House
Teaching
Tutor in multimedia journalism — Manchester Metropolitan University (2025 – present)
Associate lecturer in media and journalism — University Academy 92, Manchester (2023 – 2024)
Education
First Class Hons BA Multimedia Journalism — Manchester Metropolitan University (2016 – 2019)
Research roles
Regional surveyor of skateboarding facilities in Yorkshire and Humberside
Goldsmiths University of London
June – September 2025
Research assistant for Dr Harry Meadley’s PhD thesis The Art of Skating Institutions: Incidental Positionality as an Artistic Strategy in Reappropriating Civic Space
Leeds Beckett University
2022 – 2024
Community engagement
Co-founder and editorial director, Civic Leeds (2022 — 2024)
Publications: design, creative direction and writing
Now and Then (co-authored with Ben Powell for Division 24 Skate Store, 2025)
Safety Net (self-published, 2024)
Piece To Camera (self-published, 2023)
AVE, photo: O’Meally (Vans, 2019)
Events, talks and screenings
2025
‘Skateboarding in Wakefield: Past, Present and Future?’
Lead speaker, accompanied by Dr Harry Meadley and Kelly Devonport
Wakefield Civic Society
20th November 2025
‘First Light: Creative Culture and Media Making’ for Skate Nottingham’s Skateboarding In The City III
Development and panel chair
The People’s Hall, Nottingham
26th September 2025
2024
10 Years of Multimedia Journalism (part of Manchester Metropolitan University’s 200th anniversary program)
Panelist and course alumni
Grosvener Building, Manchester Metropolitan University
April 25th 2024
‘The Shining: A Visual And Cultural Haunting’ with Craig Oldham for Barnsley Libraries Book Festival
Host and interviewer
The Parkway Cinema, Barnsley
March 5th 2024
2023
Vladimir Film Festival: Quartersnacks ‘Favorite Spot’ Screening and in conversation with Dr Paul O’Connor discussing ‘Grey Spaces of Polluted Leisure’
Filmmaker and guest
Kino Valle, Pula, Croatia
September 23rd 2023
Rough Trade Books: ‘The Shining: A Visual And Cultural Haunting’ with Craig Oldham
Host and interviewer
Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds
July 23rd 2023
2022
Hyde Park Picure House presents ‘Favorite Spot’: A Quartersnacks Series
Filmmaker
Part of HPPH’s ‘On the Road’ program, Northern Monk Refectory, Leeds
March 18th 2022
2019 and 2018
In Conversation with Craig Oldham • Louder Than Words Festival • Manchester, 9th November 2019 (Host)
BUBBLEGUM Screening and Q&A • Louder Than Words Festival • Manchester, 8th November 2019 (Filmmaker and host)
BUBBLEGUM Premiere • Village Books, Leeds • 28th March 2019 (Filmmaker)
In Conversation with Gemma Cairney • Louder Than Words Festival • Manchester, 9th November 2018 (Co-host)
Press
Simple Magic: ‘Skateboarding Stories of The Year’
— 2025 for the Skate Bylines story ‘In Dreams — Nick Jensen on the Isle Skateboards Curtain Call’ and ‘So what’s it really like to skate the biggest ramp ever, Sandro Dias?’ for Red Bull
— 2024 for the Quartersnacks story ‘It Feels Like You’re Both Getting The Clip — A Reappraisal of Fisheye Cinematography’ and ‘Talking Interviews with Eric Swisher of The Chrome Ball Incident’ for Skate Bylines
— 2023 for the GQ articles ‘Alexis Sablone and Converse Have Made The Next Great Skate Shoe’ and ‘How Tyshawn Jones and William Strobeck Changed Skateboarding Forever’.
— 2022 for the Closer Skateboarding story ‘Kevin Spanky Long: Character Witness’
Academia
Interviewed as a figure in “Leadership, Agitating and Change-Making” through the lens of skateboarding media for Dr Indigo Willing’s paper To research gender-equity programs and safe spaces for women and non-traditional skateboarders (Churchill Trust, 2025)
Journalism for GQ and Quartersnacks cited in The Art of Skating Institutions: Incidental Positionality as an Artistic Strategy in Reappropriating Civic Space by Dr Harry Meadley (Leeds Beckett University, 2025)
Journalism for Quartersnacks and community engagement through Civic Leeds cited in Skateboarding and the Senses: Skills, Surfaces and Spaces by Dr Sander Hölsgens, assistant professor of anthropology at Leiden University, Netherlands and Brian Glenney, associate professor of philosophy at Norwich University, Vermont, USA (Taylor Francis, 2024)
Podcast appereances
‘Farran Golding on Favorite Spots and Mark Suciu’ with Mostly Skateboarding Podcast (2021)
Beyond Boards Podcast (2023)
A couple of other kind remarks
“Authentic, eloquent and 100% invested in understanding the worlds of the individuals being platformed.” — Dr Indigo Willing, author of Skateboarding Power and Change; visiting research fellow at the University of Sydney’s Social Sciences & Humanities Advanced Research Centre (2024)
“The internet’s busiest skate nerd.” — Cardiff Skateboard Club (2023)
Press for my ‘Favorite Spot’ series for Quartersnacks
‘Have You Heard About This Bench?’ — Curbed / New York Magazine (2021)
“Surely 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. Here the bench is less of a sacred spot and much more of a magical item. It corresponds with people and place, serendipity and synchronicity.
— 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 writing for Simple Magic (2023)
Social
Colleagues
As a freelancer, these people aren’t my formal “colleagues”. I have, however, had the pleasure of working, communicating and bouncing ideas around with them. 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 (maybe even hire them for a gig, if I don’t suit your needs).
Alex Coles journalist, video editor, animator and designer (USA)
Anthony Pappalardo journalist and copywriter (USA)
Cole Nowicki writer, author and publisher (Canada)
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)
Norma Ibarra photographer and marketer (Canada/worldwide)
Raisa Abal photographer and founder, Dolores Magazine (Barcelona, Spain)
Robin Kirkham print and digital designer and web developer; co-founder, An Endless Supply (Birmingham, UK)
F.G. 