March Favourites

+ The Reading & Resources List, Rightful Lives & More

How do you make ‘trouble’ as a writer? Let me show you a Bird’s Eye view of my desk - something usually set-up in a liminal space, on the move, always moving on before the next part, the next journey. It starts with some tools of the trade, no less - to put thought to action, deeds and not just pointless, empty words.

This month has felt a lot like that. Whether it was witnessing the absolutely hideous trolling of

Ellen Jones

and

Lucy Webster

by the wrong side of the internet on International Women’s Day (the crime was discussing writing a memoir of life as a disabled women), or attending a powerful event by Doughty Chambers on the unlawful detention of Autistic & Learning Disabled people, this month I have seen the ‘fightback’ in action. And it has been an absolutely privilege. Protests are not accessible to me - but damn, the ‘showing up’ to oppose government cuts? I was so very proud to see this. Meta stole your books to train its AI? The authors revolt. I also got to interview Deborah Coles of INQUEST infamy for the book that I am writing; that is a memory I’ll forever treasure.

For more information about the book, here is the relevant piece to read:

International Women’s Day, held earlier this month, had the theme of ‘accelerate action’. Yet I have not seen disabled women, incarcerated women, centred in the discussion, let alone platformed.

If you are in the position, I call upon you to show up, bang the drum, and to continue on supporting, speaking up as a show of allyship. Subscribe to our Substack newsletters, share our books, write to your MP about the proposed benefit cutting, tweet our petitions and open letters, visit seminars and take part by asking questions, share our social media content - allow for us to become visible. And publicly, too. And keep going.

In this newsletter I have shared the usual reading recommendations. I have also shared some thoughts about media /publishing diversity and the use of systematic lip service to so-called ‘niche’ categories. (And I wrote an impassioned piece for The Purple Goat Agency about DEI events.) A quarter of the UK’s population is not ‘niche’ - you are being lied to.

As a reminder: next month I will also be re-running the seminar I hosted at Naidex on here. This is for paywall subscribers on the topic of self employment; more information can be found here. But here is a special offer meanwhile:

See you next month!