Bad Friend: A Century of Revolutionary Friendships

with Tiffany Watt Smith

Move over glossy BFFs, Instagrammable gal pals and the myth of the indestructible work wife—Bad Friend is here to rewrite the rules.

Cultural historian Tiffany Watt Smith (The Book of Human Emotions, Schadenfreude) uncovers a bold and fascinating alternative history of female friendship. From the dangerously romantic schoolgirls of the 1900s to the radical mum cliques of the 1950s and the activist sisterhoods of the 1970s, she introduces us to the so-called “bad” friends—women whose bonds were too intimate, too intense, too powerful for polite society.

Drawing on stories from Japan to the Ivory Coast, from hospital wards to covens of older women choosing to live together in defiance of convention, Watt Smith weaves together memoir, interviews and pop culture—from The Mindy Project to Zadie Smith—to challenge everything we think we know about friendship.

This event is an invitation to rethink the expectations placed on women’s relationships and to embrace a more rebellious, messy, and truthful vision of connection—one rooted in freedom, not perfection.