Liz Jensen, Author at Writers Rebel

Ackroyd & Harvey’s #PaintTheLand launch speechHeather Ackroyd & Dan Harvey

30th June 2021

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 […]

Kelly Hill’s #PaintTheLand launch speechKelly Hill

30th June 2021

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” […]

Ben Okri’s #PaintTheLand launch speechBen Okri

30th June 2021

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 […]

Parents for a Future – how do we broaden the movement?Rupert Read

24th June 2021

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 […]

Writing on the landJames Flint

24th June 2021

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] […]

Watch: Interview with Amazon Defender Alexandra NarváezBeth Pitts

24th June 2021

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 […]

Ver: Entrevista con Defensora Amazónica Alexandra NarváezBeth Pitts

24th June 2021

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 […]

How to Tell a Story to Save the World 3Toby Litt

17th June 2021

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 […]

Who Breaks a Butterfly Upon a Wheel?Terry Tempest Williams and Eva Aridjis

10th June 2021

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 […]

Children of the Revolution: On Parenting and ProtestChristiana Spens

10th June 2021

‘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 […]

The Puma YearsLaura Coleman

10th June 2021

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 […]

The Names of TreesKillian Faith-Kelly

27th May 2021

The Names of Trees I I should know the names of trees and birds, and where to find them. I should have this, poised to give, to any who might need it. Dirt should sit, be lodged, tattooed, beneath my fingernails. And I should know its feel, and warmth, and temperament […]

Floating in the clouds of VenusLee Nash

27th May 2021

Floating in the clouds of Venus Tie me to a met balloon and let me drift in Venus’ atmosphere, that planet masquerading as a star. Suit me up so her sulphuric acid won’t sear my lungs, turn my sugars into dirty carbon sludge; give me a microscope, so I can scan […]

Threading Our WayCeó Ruaírc

27th May 2021

Threading Our Way Peace River territory The Peace purls a ripple stitch across the Rockies down through fertile valleys air shimmers in waves over the hot road to Hudson’s Hope glistening fish hide in hollows fishers patient hopeful on the farm Grandma weaves a sheaf of wheat into wreathes […]

The prayer of the Common NewtGordon Meade

27th May 2021

The Prayer of the Common Newt In a muddy pond, in the outskirts of Clydebank, a mother, with over two hundred eggs inside her, is beginning the process of giving birth. Over the next few weeks, each day she will deposit about a dozen of them not on a folded over leaf, […]

The shaping of History: THE PEOPLE VERSUS SHELLSimon Bramwell

13th May 2021

On 22 April, XR co-founder Simon Bramwell and six other rebels appeared at the Southwark Crown Court, charged with causing 25K worth of criminal damage to Shell’s London headquarters. In a historic ruling, six of the defendants were found not guilty despite admitting to criminal damage, and the judge indicating that the law pointed to […]

On behalf of myself and my children…Tom Bullough's Defence Speech: Edit

13th May 2021

Tom Bullough was arrested during the September rebellion for failing to comply with a section 14 of the Public Order Act 1986. This is the statement he read in his defence at the City of London magistrates’ court. He received a nine month suspended sentence and was ordered to pay costs. I would like […]

How to Tell a Story to Save the World 2Toby Litt

13th May 2021

This time, I’m looking at two hugely influential screenwriting manuals – Syd Field’s Screenplay and Christopher Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey. Through the gap between them, we see the idea of heroism emerge and start to dominate the very idea of ‘a good story’. Like all film producers say, ‘The audience needs to knows who to […]

How far will the police go? As far as they like.Anonymous

13th May 2021

How easy is it to be conned? The short answer is that it’s as easy as falling in love. Here’s how I know. I’d always been involved in socialist and environmentalist organisations but I’d been out of the mix for a while. In 1992, when my story starts, I was recently divorced, unemployed, and alone […]

The Bravery of Carola RacketeMarina Warner

29th April 2021

In June 2019, Carola Rackete, captain of the boat Sea-Watch 3, entered the port of Lampedusa and thereby defied the new Italian law against entering territorial waters. By doing so, she saved the lives of forty refugees who, in the intense heat, were suffering from thirst and threatening to throw themselves overboard – though […]

Writing Needs to be Offered as a Gift to its AudienceTom Bullough Interviews Jay Griffiths

29th April 2021

Jay, what a treat to fire you questions. As you know, I think Why Rebel is a wonder – and, really, it answers this first in itself – but all the same it is such a central question for you, for me, for so many writers: How do you square the urgency of the CEE (Climate and […]