Nigella Lucy Lawson (born 6 January 1960)[2] is an English food writer, television cook, and former journalist. Known for her relaxed and indulgent approach to cooking and food writing, she has sold more than eight million cookery books worldwide to date, and has appeared on numerous television programmes in the United Kingdom and internationally.[3] After graduating from the University of Oxford, Lawson began her career in journalism, working as a book reviewer and restaurant critic before becoming deputy literary editor of The Sunday Times in 1986. She left the staff position the following year to pursue freelance writing. In 1998, her first cookery book, How to Eat, was published and sold 300,000 copies, becoming a best-seller. Lawsons's second book, How to Be a Domestic Goddess, was published in 2000, winning the British Book Award for Author of the Year. Lawson became widely known on television through the Channel 4 series Nigella Bites (1999–2001), for which she received a Guild of Food Writers award. In the United Kingdom, she hosted the ITV daytime chat show Nigella (2005) and the cookery programmes Nigella's Christmas Kitchen (2006, 2008), Nigella Express (2007), and Simply Nigella (2015). In the United States, she hosted the Food Network series Nigella Feasts (2006) and served as a judge on the ABC cooking competition The Taste (2013–2014). She later judged on the British version of The Taste (2014) and on the Channel 4 baking competition The Great British Bake Off (2026). In June 2026, Lawson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in recognition of her contribution to food writing. Her cookware range, Living Kitchen, has a value of £7 million.