who the hell is rachel gambling?

hi there. i’m rachel, a writer and poet from southend-on-sea, uk. you can find my poetry in the literary magazines where the land forgets itself, t’art, queerlings, and kamena, and i’ve performed at open mics like the poetry social club, proud poetry, the listening room, and loose lips. my debut poetry pamphlet, cape point, was published as part of the 2025 estuary anthology. i’ve written content for justwatch, cliterally the best, brook, and the socialist. in 2022 i graduated with a postgraduate diploma in history from birkbeck, university of london, and in 2020 i completed my bachelor’s in english literature and creative writing at the university of warwick. i’m bisexual, the daughter of a vicar, a third-generation south african immigrant, and a born-and-bred essex girl. i work full-time as a sex educator for a uk-based charity.

who writes for girlblog!?

Currently, it's just me, Rachel G, writing for girblog! -- but I'm looking for contributors and guest writers right now! If you'd like to write something for girlblog! please drop me an Instagram DM (@girlblogzine) or email (rachelsaragraygambling@gmail.com).

Why did you start girlblog!?

I've loved alternative culture since I was a kid. I'd watch Kerrang! music videos with my older brother, make playlists of the songs I found on Guitar Hero, and watch my favourite action films over and over. I always wondered why there weren't that many girls in rock music and action films, and why the ones I did see were hypersexualised.

Over time -- and with the encouragement of my brother -- I found more female rock artists, found more complex female characters in film and TV, and found my personality and style through these people and characters. girlblog! is my space to share and celebrate my favourite alternative things with others.

girlblog! is also a platform to call out discrimination and oppression and provide an alternative worldview to our capitalist-consumerist culture, taking a feminist-socialist perspective on cultural commentary.