ARE YOU HERE FOR THIS?
< RANT WRITTEN TO BE READ LOUD
WRITERS REBELLION, TRAFALGAR SQUARE, OCTOBER 2019 >
THIS IS THE WRITERS REBELLION CALLING!
I AM HERE FOR THIS! ARE YOU HERE FOR THIS?
CALLING ALL MY BOOKISH COMRADES. ALL THE INKY-FINGERED INTROVERTS, THE BESPECTACLED PEN PUSHERS, CALLING ALL WRITERS AND READERS, BOOK LOVERS AND BOOK MAKERS. CALLING ALL WORDSMITHS. ALL POETS AND SPOKEN WORD ARTISTS, RANTERS AND RACONTEURS. CALLING THE LITERARTI. CALLING ALL PUBLISHERS AND LIBRARIES AND BOOKSHOPS. CALLING ALL THE TEACHERS WORKING TIRELESSLY TO INSPIRE YOUNG PEOPLE TO LEARN TO READ AND TO WRITE AND TO BELIEVE IN A FUTURE THEY MUST READ AND WRITE AND STUDY FOR. CALLING ALL BOOK GROUPS AND READING SUPPORT GROUPS. THE PEOPLE FIGHTING TO GET MORE BOOKS TO PEOPLE IN HOSPITALS AND PRISONS AND DETENTION AND IMMIGRATION CENTRES. CALLING ALL CREATORS OF ZINES AND ALL PAMPHLETEERS. CALLING ALL THE INDIES AND DIY HOPE PUNKS. CALLING ALL THE LITERARY FESTIVALS. THE EVENT ORGANISERS AND PROGRAMMERS. CALLING ALL OF YOU THAT LOVE BOOKS. ALL OF YOU THAT LOVE TO READ AND ALL OF YOU THAT SPEND HOURS TWEETING AND POSTING BEAUTIFUL IMAGES OF BOOKS ON YOUR HASHTAG #BOOKSTAGRAM. THIS IS THE WRITERS REBELLION CALLING. ARE YOU HERE FOR THIS? TIME IS NOW. TODAY IS THE DAY WE WRITE A BETTER FUTURE. THE WRITERS REBELLION IS TODAY AND I AM HERE FOR THIS – WE ARE HERE FOR THIS!
REMEMBER YOU ARE POWERFUL. THAT BOOKS ARE POWERFUL. REMEMBER THAT A BOOK CAN INFORM AND INSPIRE AND SPARK VITAL CONVERSATION AND DEBATE. REMEMBER THAT YOUR WRITING CAN CHANGE THE PATH OF HISTORY AND SWAY PUBLIC OPINION AND VOTES. I HOPE THE NEXT GENERATION WANT TO WRITE ABOUT THE EARLY 21ST CENTURY WITH JOY. I WANT FUTURE WRITERS TO REMEMBER US AND WRITE THAT WE DID GOOD AND THAT WE MADE A DIFFERENCE AND THAT WE SHOWED UP AND STOOD UP AND THAT WE DID NOT ROLL OVER AND BINGE-WATCH OTHER EPISODE OF DYSTOPIAN FICTION ON NETFLIX IN A NUMB STATE OF APATHY. I WANT THE NEXT GENERATION OF WRITERS TO WRITE WITH FREEDOM, TO WRITE LIKE THERE IS A TOMORROW WITH THE SAME FREEDOMS WE THOUGHT WE HAD.
I AM HERE FOR THIS – WE ARE HERE FOR THIS
THE WRITERS REBELLION. BECAUSE I KNOW IT IS POETRY AND ART AND BOOKS THAT CONNECT US ALL. I KNOW THAT POETRY CAN BE A SONG AND A PRAYER. THAT POETRY SETS AN INTENTION. THAT POETRY IS MAGIC. POETRY IS OUR SHARED LANGUAGE AND COMMON GROUND. A BOOK CAN SAVE A LIFE, I HAVE FELT IT, I HAVE SEEN WORDS FILL A SOUL WITH EMPOWERMENT AND COURAGE. SO I AM CALLING ON YOU ALL TODAY, ALL OF YOU THAT CREATE WORLDS WITH YOUR WORDS WITH YOUR TRUTH AND POWER, I CALL YOU TO HELP TO WRITE A BETTER TOMORROW. TODAY IS THE DAY WE WRITE A BETTER FUTURE – AND I AM HERE FOR THIS – WE ARE ALL HERE FOR THIS.
BECAUSE IF TOMORROW IS THAT BLEAK DYSTOPIA FROM OUR FICTION BOOKS BY ORWELL AND HUXLEY AND ATWOOD THEN AS WRITERS WE ALL HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO WRITE A BETTER ENDING, TO CHANGE THE NARRATION, TO IMAGINE A BETTER TOMORROW, TO PROTEST FOR THIS HOME WE SHARE. TO PROTECT THE ELDERLY AND SICK, THE POOR AND THE VULNERABLE, TO STAND UP FOR THE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ALREADY AFFECTED BY CORPORATE GREED AND WAR, MIGRATION, FAMINE, DROUGHT AND FLOOD… WE ARE HERE FOR THIS!
WE ARE HERE TO PROTECT OUR SHARED HISTORY AND OUR ANCESTORS’ LANDS AND THE MAJESTY OF THE CATHEDRALS WE HAVE ABOVE US IN THE SKIES AND BENEATH OUR FEET IN THE EARTH WITH THE BONES OF OUR DEAD. TO CHERISH AND PROTECT THE ARCHITECTURE THAT LIES DEEP IN THE OCEAN AND OUR FORESTS. WE MUST NURTURE ALL WE HAVE INHERITED AND ALL WE PASS ON AND KEEP THIS WORLD SAFE FOR NOW AND FOR THE GENERATIONS TO COME.
I AM HERE FOR THIS – WE ARE HERE FOR THIS
I WRITE THIS TODAY REMEMBERING THAT LITERACY IS A GIFT NOT GIVEN FREELY TO ALL. I WANT US TO REMEMBER THAT WOMEN MAKE UP TWO THIRDS OF THE WORLDS ILLITERACY AND THAT NOT ALL WOMEN ARE PERMITTED BOOKS AND WRITING OR A VOICE AND A VOTE. I WANT US TO REMEMBER THE SILENCED PEOPLE, ALL OF THOSE PEOPLE IN COUNTRIES THAT ARE THE FIRST TO BE AFFECTED BY THIS ESCALATING CLIMATE EMERGENCY.
I AM HERE BECAUSE I DON’T WANT THIS WORLD TO CONTINUE TO BE A TERRIBLE NIGHTMARE AND A SHIT ADAPTATION OF 1984 AND BRAVE NEW WORLD AND HANDMAID’S TALE ROLLED INTO ONE BUT WITH A REALLY BADLY WRITTEN SCRIPT AND A LOW RENT CAST OF MEN WITH BAD HAIR AND MAKE UP. WHO WOULD CAST BORIS JOHNSON IN THE LEADING ROLE OF THE MOVIE OF NOW? NOT ME.
WE ARE WRITERS REBELLION AND I AM HERE FOR THIS AND WE ARE HERE FOR THIS!
WE MUST UNITE TO WRITE A BETTER ENDING. THIS LETTER COMES WITH HOPE AND WITH COURAGE. WE MUST IMAGINE A BETTER ENDING AND FIGHT FOR A BETTER WORLD. A WORLD THAT WE ALL DESERVE IN REAL LIFE AND NOT JUST IN FICTION AND IN THE DREAMS OF AN IDEALISTIC POETS LIKE ME. I LOVE CLEAN AIR AND CLEAN WATER. I LOVE LOW EMISSIONS. I LOVE JUSTICE AND FREEDOM. AND BOOKS.
ARE YOU HERE FOR THIS?
WITH LOVE, GRIEF AND FURY,
SALENA
Salena Godden is a high-profile poet based in London. She is also an activist, broadcaster, essayist and memoirist whose work has been widely anthologised. She has had several volumes of poetry published including Under The Pier (Nasty Little Press) Fishing in the Aftermath: Poems 1994-2014 (Burning Eye Books) Pessimism is for Lightweights (Rough Trade Books) and a literary childhood memoir, Springfield Road (Unbound).
Her poem Pessimism is for Lightweights is a public art piece, it was donated to The Peoples History Museum, Manchester, where it is now on permanent display. The work was unveiled in February 2020 to mark the museum’s 10th birthday. She has recorded several albums, most recently her spoken-word album LIVEwire (Nymphs and Thugs) was shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award in 2017.
Canongate pre-empted world rights to her debut novel Mrs Death Misses Death. A documentary following the work-in-progress over 12 months was broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Mrs Death Misses Death has been described by the publisher as an “electrifying genre- and form-defying firestarter” and by author of V for Vendetta and Watchmen Alan Moore as “profound as Cohen and playful as Brautigan” Canongate publish in January 2021.