This stirring speech was given by author and co-founder of XR Writers Rebel, Monique Roffey, at XR’s Impossible Rebellion in London, Monday 23rd August, 2021. Why, are we here in the City, today? Why have we marched all this way? To speak truth to power. To speak truth to the City of London, […]
Read More… from Monique Roffey Speaks Truth to Power at the Impossible Rebellion
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 4Toby 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 guiltyZappi 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. […]
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 […]
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] […]
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 3Toby Litt
‘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 ProtestChristiana 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 […]
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 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 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 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, […]
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 […]
Read More… from The shaping of History: THE PEOPLE VERSUS SHELLSimon Bramwell
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 […]
Read More… from On behalf of myself and my children…Tom Bullough's Defence Speech: Edit
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 […]
Read More… from How to Tell a Story to Save the World 2Toby Litt
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 […]
Read More… from How far will the police go? As far as they like.Anonymous