#Revolution with John Rees

John Rees is a political writer, activist and broadcaster for publications including Counterfire. He has also written  The Leveller Revolution, revolutionaries who grew out of the battlefields of the Civil War in 1642. Join John who will be at Revolution with author China Miéville and cartoonist Kate Evans. 

A Conversation with Kate Evans

Kate Evans is an artist, cartoonist, writer, activist and a mother. We sat down with her on International Woman's Day to discuss her recent book, Red Rosa: A Graphic Biography of Rosa Luxemburg and her other works.

Kate: I prefer phone interviews ‘cause email interviews actually take longer, cause there’s a big long load of questions and 45 minutes later you’re still typing. But this is good because I can tidy my studio at the same time.

"What I learnt at Writing on the Wall" - Chloe

Taken during Chloe's (right) first week, taken with Rachael (left), one of our interns. 

Lucy's #Revolution

Lucy, one of our interns at Writing on the Wall, discusses what revolution means to her. 

Revolution to me is unity. It’s millions of people across the globe taking to the streets to fight for our rights. It’s speaking out and adding to the conversation about politics, our environment and health. It’s not sitting back and saying “little old me isn’t going to change anything.”

Ten Years on the Parish, George Garrett

For World Book Day I’m celebrating a book that will finally see the light of day eighty-one years since it was first written, written by someone I’ve been fascinated by since discovering his work and setting up the project to protect and preserve his legacy. Ten Years On The Parish, by George Garrett will be published on the 1^st May 2017 by Liverpool University Press, following Writing on the Wall’s four year George Garrett Archive project, which has collected, collated and preserved Garrett’s work for future readers, which began after two suitcases of his memorabilia, including original writing, was presented to us by his family.

Mental Health & Me is back!

Writing on the Wall and the Liverpool Mental Health Consortium are proud to announce that Mental Health and Me is back for the third year running with 2016 bringing a fresh new twist to this ground breaking writing competition. Faces, Places and Spaces is the theme for 2016. The competition is open to anyone who has an experience or interest in mental health, whether this is based on a true story or entirely fictionalised. If you have an interest in mental health and you’d like an opportunity to become a published writer, this is your chance!

 

Competition Deadline: 5pm, 1st September 2016

Click here to find out more and enter!

Behind The Red Door

If 2016 was summed up in one all encompassing, dividing political and social issue it would be this: Immigration. Due to the seriousness of the Syrian refugee crisis this has become the make-or-break issue in many political campaigns throughout the year, spanning from the UK’s European Referendum to the United States’ Presidential Election to name but a few. It is a heated topic that sparks almost-furious debate from both sides of the political spectrum. Everyone has an opinion on the subject but few really know the consequences from personal first-hand experience what it is like to actually be a refugee.

Writing on the Wall have organised an event in reaction to this: Behind the Red Door. It is a panel consisting of Syrian Poet Maram Al-Masri, academic Linda McDowell CBE and Gambian exiled journalist Pa Modou Bojang. They will lead talks in exploring western societies response to the current refugee crisis use their own personal experiences to contextualise it. In turn they will ponder the question: What can history teach us?

In Middlesbrough asylum seekers have had their doors painted red. As a result of this a number of immigrants have been attacked, some repeatedly. Whether or not this action was intentional to single out asylum seekers from the rest of the community can be hotly debated, yet, intentional or not, the action begs the question: how has this affected the community at large? This type of ‘mark’ seems similar to the Jewish yellow star in the heyday of the Nazi party. A way to create an apartheid within the community.

When the Guardian is reporting that Britain is becoming more segregated than fifteen years ago we have to stand up and take notice. If segregation rises in line with immigration then surely this will breed mistrust and alienation between communities, if we cannot live with each other then how can we begin to understand one another? There seems to be an increasingly apparent objective by some to create a scapegoat for the problems within communities. Labour MP Chuka Umunna said it best: people respond to the challenges of the 21st century not by asking “how can we solve this problem together?” but by asking “who can we blame?”

Join us on 24th May at Kuumba Imani Millennium Centre

Tickets only £4/2 Available on the Door

By Tom Chivers