Scottish journalist dies at age of 57

Award-winning Scottish journalist and author, Deborah Orr, has died of breast cancer aged 57.

Tributes were paid to the writer after her death was confirmed by her family yesterday.

Orr became the first female editor under 30 of the Guardian’s Weekend magazine in 1993.

She continued to edit the publication for five years, leaving in 1998 and going on to work as a columnist for the Independent until 2009.

After going back to the

Guardian as a columnist, Orr left in 2018 after they relaunched as a tabloid.

She then went on to join the i newspaper.

Born in Motherwell in 1962, she is survived by her two sons, Ivan and Luther, and her stepchildren, Alexis and Madeleine.

She married Will Self, an English TV personality, journalist and political commentator, in 1997.

The pair went on to have two children and Orr became stepmother to Self ’s other two children. Her memoir, Motherwell: A Girlhood, will be published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson in January.

The idea for the book followed on from a column she wrote for the Guardian about her diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Orr was deputy editor for magazine City Limits during her early career between 1988 and 1990, and also worked as a film critic for the New Statesman.

People used social media to pay tribute to the journalist and honour her work yesterday.

Guardian columnist, Owen Jones, said: “Really shocked and upset to hear about the death of Deborah Orr.

“When I first started writing she invited me round to hers, we got merry together, she was so witty, sardonic, clever, bright.”

Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh added: “Deb really was one of the good ones. Last time I saw her was at a wedding where we got a bit drunk and danced. She prodded my stomach and told me I was getting a bit flabby.”

Deborah Orr has died of breast cancer aged 57