gal-dem was founded in 2015 by Liv Little, then a University of Bristol student frustrated by the lack of media that centred the voices of women and non-binary people of colour. What began as a bedroom project quickly grew into one of the most influential independent media platforms in Britain — a digital and print publication that covered politics, culture, music, identity, and lifestyle through perspectives that mainstream media consistently failed to represent.
The name was a reclamation of Caribbean slang, and the editorial voice matched: warm, sharp, unapologetically political, and deeply rooted in the lived experience of its contributors. gal-dem published a print annual alongside its digital output, and its coverage of everything from reproductive justice to grime music to colourism established it as essential reading for anyone who wanted to understand contemporary British culture in its full complexity.
After eight years of publishing, gal-dem announced its closure in 2023, citing financial unsustainability. The loss was felt across the media landscape — a reminder that the publications most needed by underrepresented communities are often the hardest to fund. What gal-dem built in its short life — a generation of writers, a community of readers, a model for inclusive media — outlasts the platform itself.