Listen: Twenty Four Splashes of DenialRuth Padel

A portrait of the poet Ruth Padel in front of the roots of a tree.

    XRWRITERSREBEL · Twenty Four Splashes Of Denial by Ruth Padel   Ruth Padel is a poet, novelist and non-fiction author, Professor of Poetry at King’s College London, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Zoological Society of London. She has published a novel focusing on wildlife in India, and a range of non-fiction […]

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Read: Where Are Their Cats? Jessica Townsend

  I remember the moment of panic on the tube as it clattered towards Waterloo. Was I really going to go through with this? I was in my mid-fifties, a grandmother to two, and I had agreed to be part of a topless protest on Waterloo Bridge. What was I thinking? Let’s begin with the easy […]

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Read: Tear Gas or Tea? A Very English ArrestBeth Pitts

Photograph of the author Beth Pitts on a rainy day.

  As I lay in the middle of the road outside Downing Street, surrounded by police, awaiting my imminent arrest, I looked up at a cloudless blue sky. It felt like a sign that the rain had finally stopped and, as I enjoyed the sun on my face, one of London’s famous parakeets flew overhead. […]

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Watch: Shoulder SeasonJoe Dunthorne

  Shoulder Season   The creature lies still in the villa’s pool, waiting for the day the caretaker rolls back the tarp and the first wasps of the year thrash themselves to stillness. Then they come, writhing on their inflatables, the holidaymakers. It’s not until midweek that the family’s youngest, grown sufficiently bored and appalled, […]

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Read: ARE YOU HERE FOR THIS?Salena Godden

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 […]

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Long Read: Regina vs MeJay Griffiths

Nine months later, and for the first time in my life, I am on trial, for breaching a ‘Section 14’ order intended to clear rebels off the streets.  In the dock, I take the oath to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Telling the truth because other people haven’t. The […]

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Watch: Writers Marathon Reading

The People of the River Rise reading, hosted by Culture Declares, took place during lockdown on 20 May 2020. It was organised by Paul Ewen and hosted by Toby Litt. The writers who took part were Alfie, Chloe Aridjis, Jeff Goodell, Monique Roffey, Susana Medina, Edward Platt, Clare Morrall, Anoucha Grose, Jessica Townsend, Josh Appignanesi, […]

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