Ruth Ivo is a storyteller, a writer of memoir and fiction. She has worked at various times as a showgirl, scarer of children on a Blackpool ghost train, area organiser at the likes of Glastonbury Festival, and was the director of an X-rated variety show at 'The Club'. Tired now, she has turned to a career in literature.

Her first book Performance is published by Coronet Books.

Praise for Performance:

‘An enthralling volume with shades of Christopher Isherwood’s Goodbye to Berlin’

The Times

‘A wild night of a book. Ruth Ivo lets you follow her behind the velvet rope of old Soho into a riot of transgression and decadence. Dancing across the line between the beautiful and damned, it's a vivid snapshot of a city - and a young woman - in flux’

Octavia Bright

‘A stunning memoir. By turns wildly entertaining and deeply moving, it vividly captures a bittersweet snapshot of a Soho of glamour and defiance, a love letter to the aliveness of London and its nightlife’

Sophie Mackintosh

'Theatrical, immersive and utterly heartbreaking. An astonishing debut’

Christie Watson

‘I devoured this book in two days, all of its twisting corners and dark alleyways. I know Soho like the back of my hand and this brought that lost world back in vivid colours, like a technicolour, X- rated movie. I knew the places, knew some of the characters, and probably knew Ruth! What a debut, I can't wait for more’

Jodie Harsh

‘A story this addictive, it's hard not to consume it in one go’

Rhyannon Styles