A Letter To Power

Dear Screenwriters, Playwrights, Authors, Radio and Video Game Writers,

Today, Tuesday the 1st of September 2020, Culture Declares Emergency has asked for people to write #LettersToPower. Last year we marched under the Writers Guild banner and were part of the WGGB declaring a Climate Emergency. Since then we’ve been thinking, what next? 

So here we are. This is our letter to power… We thought about writing a letter to those who hold political or financial power and rest assured, we’ll get to them. But first it’s time to write to you, our fellow writers. Because this much we know: you hold power too. And the reason we declared the emergency last year, the reason we're writing this letter is because we believe that stories can make a difference.

We are tired and buffeted by living though a pandemic. We know you are too. We would like things to go back to 'normal' - but normal was never normal and we know the adventure we’re being called to is not going to let us off the hook lightly. The world has changed. We’ve read about the accelerated glacier melts this summer. We know now that a quarter of the UK’s native species are threatened by extinction. We see the effects of climate breakdown on war, of population upheaval and the ever increasing need for asylum and safety. We see the rise of populism, fear and inequality. We know it is all linked, even if we can’t articulate exactly how. Yet.

Because we know how the threads of a story spread and curl to create a whole. We know we want be part of telling the stories that come from it, those that could alter it. But we’re also trying to get through another week of Covid-time. We are human so we feel overwhelmed. But nonetheless, we are writers so ideas are forming. We have questions we don’t yet have all the answers for. And answers for some questions we don’t want to ask. 

Does any of that sound familiar to you?

It’s a weird tingle of uncertainty but also hope.  It’s the feeling of our power rising. We don’t think we’re alone.  If you’re feeling this too we want to find you. We want to work together. We want to ask: What action can we take to help create a new normal? What does ‘doing our bit’ look like for a writer? 

We think there are few things more powerful than a writer turning to the page with a sharpened pen. We want to make connections, collaborations and to figure out how we can add our power to a movement to combat climate breakdown and avert ecocide.

 That’s our declaration.

If you want to join us on this adventure, then consider yourselves in. We’re looking for people who care, who have questions, who want to connect. We recognise that climate breakdown and ecocide will only be mitigated and averted if we put diversity and equality at the heart of everything we do, from the very first moment we start doing.  So, we want to be explicit. We want to particularly shout out to black, brown, trans, disabled writers. To writers outside of London and the south east. We do not want business as usual.

That’s our letter to power - the power that is you. If you are interested in connecting with us then please ping us on twitter (you’ll find us at @emmabob3 and @lenalongstream) or you can email Emma (emmabob3@googlemail.com).  We’re hoping to bring everyone together in October, to talk and find out what we might all do next. Watch this space.

 Signed

Emma Adams and Line Langebek