Gemma Cairney is a multi-award winning broadcaster, published author, production company founder, magpie and life enthusiast.

Gemma is a writer, broadcaster, documentary maker, journalist, and cultural producer. A former Brit School pupil and fashion stylist, Gemma has presented across the breadth of the BBC, having been the regular presenter of the 1Xtra Breakfast Show, 1Xtra's 1-4 afternoon's slot, the Radio 1 Weekend Breakfast Show, Radio 1's Early Breakfast Show, The Surgery and is host of series The Leisure Society (BBC6 Music) and The Sound Odyssey (BBC Radio 4 & BBC World Service).

She has written for, edited, and contributed to The Guardian, Company Magazine, Red, Glamour, and Cosmopolitan. She has won Sony awards for her documentaries on subjects such as domestic abuse and produced podcasts and theatre productions. Her drive is humanity and communication in all areas of her wide-spanning work.

She was the previous Southbank Artist in Residence and on the Women Of The World (WOW) committee. In 2017, Macmillan published her first book, Open: A Toolkit for How Magic and Messed-Up Life Can Be, giving advice and personal insight on subjects ranging from grief, depression, body image, sex and relationships, and everything in between. With the hope of starting a movement to get young people to open up and communicate better, Open came out in paperback in 2018, in two books, published as Open Your Heart and Open Your Mind. Gemma is also the co-author of Hometown Tales: South Coast.

She is currently Chair of the Edinburgh Art Festival, hosting a fourth series of a podcast series called Dreamspace where she guides artists through their dreams for Factory International. Her new book, The Immortal Sisterhood is being published by Canongate and will be out on August 13th 2026. Her directorial debut took place with an ensemble-led, show adaptation of her upcoming book named - The Immortal Sisterhood LIVE - premiering at The Lincoln Center in New York City in January 2025.