In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is murdered. Denial is central to the terrible calamity engulfing us: the collapse of nature and climate and the knock-on collapse of social order. There are five kinds. These are climate denial, budget denial, policy denial, lifestyle denial, and denial denial. Climate denial, now […]
This time we look at the most recent of the screenwriting gurus, John Yorke, and then take a hard look at the transformations of World War Z. What happens when a novel without a hero goes through four of the scriptwriting machines? INTO THE WOODS: HOW STORIES WORK AND WHY WE TELL THEM […]
Read More… from How to Tell a Story to Save the World 4
Toby Litt
Chloe Aridjis interviews Philip Hoare about his new book, Albert and the Whale (Fourth Estate) Starting with the monkey in the prologue you brilliantly set up the myriad ways in which our relationship to other species has been defined (artistic, scientific, utilitarian). Would you say much has changed over the centuries or was it […]
On 22nd July, three rebels were convicted of taking action at the Brazilian Embassy against the ecocidal and genocidal regime of President Bolsonaro. Possible sentences range from a community order to 18 months in prison. This is the address given by one of the rebels, 24 year old Zappi Taylor, to the jury. […]
Read More… from What I said to the jury who found me guilty
Zappi Taylor
The wildlife biologist and campaigner Raphael Coleman, known in XR as Iggy Fox, joined Extinction Rebellion as part of the Media and Messaging team in 2018. He was active in XR Youth, a beloved member of the Snowflakes affinity group, and the force behind XR’s iconic Paint The Streets campaigns. When still a zoology student, he […]
A Writers Rebel Campaign On Trial for Causing Criminal Damage to the Home of Dark Money Extinction Rebellion co-founder Clare Farrell, Professor Rupert Read and I are in the heart of London to perform an act of civil disobedience. Later, we expect to be arrested. I don’t know about the others, but I’m nervous. […]
Writers Rebel’s Paint the Land project was launched with the help of Booker prize-winning writer Ben Okri, artist-activists Ackroyd & Harvey, Capital Choir, Damon Albarn and countless dedicated volunteers. Okri’s message to world governments, “Can’t you hear the future weeping? Our love must save the world” was grown on an 16x4m carpet of living grass […]
This speech was given by Ben Okri at Writers Rebel’s Paint The Land launch event on Friday 25th June, 2021. When Writers Rebel asked me to come up with a few words that could speak to a world on the verge of environmental catastrophe, I had a minor crisis of my own. The facts […]
Damon Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz joined Mirabella Okri and the Capital Children’s Choir to delivered a reflective performance at Writers Rebel’s Paint the Land launch 25.06.21. Watch it here. #PaintTheLand was launched with the help of Booker prize-winning writer Ben Okri and artist-activists Ackroyd & Harvey. Okri’s message to world governments, “Can’t you hear […]
XR Co-founder, Simon Bramwell, delivered an urgent and powerful speech at Writers Rebel’s Paint the Land launch on 25.06.21. Within his speech, Bramwell reminds us why action is necessary and how art can be a powerful agent in this change. #PaintTheLand was launched with the help of Booker prize-winning writer Ben Okri and artist-activists Ackroyd […]
Read More… from Simon Bramwell’s #PaintTheLand launch speech
Simon Bramwell
Co-founders of Culture Declares and renowned artist-activists, Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey spoke at Writers Rebel’s Paint the Land launch 25.06.21. Within their speech, Ackroyd & Harvey describe the quiet miracle of grass. Ackroyd & Harvey created a 16x4m living grass banner that was floated on the Thames at Bankside Beach on Friday 25th June […]
Read More… from Ackroyd & Harvey’s #PaintTheLand launch speech
Heather Ackroyd & Dan Harvey
On Friday 25th June, dedicated activist and organiser, Kelly Hill introduced the crowd to Writers Rebel’s latest project, Paint the Land. #PaintTheLand was launched with the help of Booker prize-winning writer Ben Okri and artist-activists Ackroyd & Harvey. Okri’s message to world governments, “Can’t you hear the future weeping? Our love must save the world” […]
Read More… from Kelly Hill’s #PaintTheLand launch speech
Kelly Hill
Booker prize-winning novelist, poet and activist Ben Okri made a moving speech at Writers Rebel’s Paint the Land launch 25.06.21. Within his speech, Okri reminds us that love is the only thing that stands between us and extinction. Okri’s message “Can’t you hear the future weeping? Our love must save the world” was displayed on […]
Read More… from Ben Okri’s #PaintTheLand launch speech
Ben Okri
Walking along the street the other day, I overheard a fragment of a conversation. A mother with a pushchair was saying confidently said to her friend, ‘You know me, I’d do anything to protect my kids’. It’s a variation of a phrase I have often heard but, just recently, the urge to interrupt and […]
Read More… from Parents for a Future – how do we broaden the movement?
Rupert Read
John Richard Granville Stevens — Granville to everyone who knows him — is standing in the field behind his farmhouse, showing me his roots. While he’s doing this, I’m thinking about Franz Kafka’s short story “In the Penal Settlement”. Farmer Granville Stevens standing in one of his cover crops. [Photo credit: JAMES FLINT] […]
Beth Pitts interviews Alexandra Narváez, an indigenous Kofán defender from Ecuador’s northern Amazon region. Alexandra’s community of Sinangoe is famous for winning a historic legal battle against gold mining in 2018, which protected 79,000 acres of mega-biodiverse primary rainforest and the headwaters of one of Ecuador’s most important rivers. As the first woman to […]
Read More… from Watch: Interview with Amazon Defender Alexandra Narváez
Beth Pitts
Beth Pitts entrevista a Alexandra Narváez, una defensora indígena Kofán de la región norte de la Amazonía del Ecuador. La comunidad de Alexandra, Sinangoe, es famosa por ganar una batalla legal histórica contra la minería de oro en 2018, que protegió mas que 30.000 hectáreas de selva primaria megabiodiverso y las cabeceras de […]
Read More… from Ver: Entrevista con Defensora Amazónica Alexandra Narváez
Beth Pitts
This month I’m looking at two of the sacred monsters of Screenwriting Guruhood – Robert McKee (Story) and Blake Snyder (Save the Cat). If you’d like to read what’s gone before, start here; if not, read on. STORY: SUBSTANCE, STRUCTURE, STYLE AND PRINCIPLES OF SCREENWRITING ROBERT MCKEE 1997 Of […]
Read More… from How to Tell a Story to Save the World 3
Toby Litt
Terry Tempest Williams and Eva Aridjis took part in Writers Rebels’ Insectageddon event on May 24th 2021, at which they both spoke piercingly about the fate of the Monarch Butterfly. In this video, we share Terry’s contribution. Known for her impassioned and lyrical prose, Terry Tempest Williams is the author of the environmental literature […]
Read More… from Who Breaks a Butterfly Upon a Wheel?
Terry Tempest Williams and Eva Aridjis
‘Why are we here, Mummy?’ My four year-old son asked, as we joined the swathes of Extinction Rebellion protesters in Glasgow’s George Square in September 2019. ‘The ice caps are still melting. This isn’t really going to help the polar bears, is it?’ I was slightly taken aback. Caspian had always been fascinated by wild […]
Read More… from Children of the Revolution: On Parenting and Protest
Christiana Spens
It was last August, at around three in the morning when my phone rang. I lay in bed and listened, the darkness spreading around me. Through the phone, Tania ‘Nena’ Baltazar wept. Our home is on fire. “Nuestra casa se está quemando.” I could hear the crackling of flames. I could smell it, feel the […]