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 […]
Read More… from Read: Where Are Their Cats? Jessica Townsend
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. […]
Read More… from Read: Tear Gas or Tea? A Very English ArrestBeth Pitts
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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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