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Open Letter from Autors and Entertainers in Support of JKR

281 replies

Igneococcus · 27/09/2020 07:15

In the Times:

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/d714149e-003d-11eb-a6ce-737681864bdd?shareToken=522b280f5312e063be007bba64a0e96d

Here is the letter (a few down the list):
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/2e240198-fe6a-11ea-a6ce-737681864bdd?shareToken=8bcca8afb981c27e32894e05e7776f41

And the signatories:

We wish JK Rowling well and stand in solidarity with her.
Ian McEwan, author; Lionel Shriver, author; Griff Rhys Jones, actor; Graham Linehan, writer; Maureen Chadwick, writer; Andrew Davies, writer; Frances Barber, actress; Craig Brown, writer; Alexander Armstrong, actor; Amanda Craig, writer; Philip Hensher, writer; Susan Hill, writer; Jane Thynne, writer; Ben Miller, actor; Simon Fanshawe, writer; James Dreyfus, actor; Frances Welch, writer; Francis Wheen, writer; Arthur Matthews, writer; Aminatta Forna, writer; Joan Smith, writer; Nick Cohen, journalist; Kath Gotts, composer & lyricist; Ann McManus, writer; Eileen Gallagher, writer & producer; Jimmy Mulville, producer; Lizzie Roper, actress; Stella O’Malley, author; Nina Paley, animator; Julie Bindel, journalist; Abigail Shrier, journalist; Rachel Rooney, author; Jane Harris, writer; Tatsuya Ishida, cartoonist; Lisa Marchiano, author; Zuby, musician and author; Debbie Hayton, journalist; Gillian Philip, Author, Jonny Best, musician; Manick Govinda, arts consultant; Russell Celyn Jones, writer; Magi Gibson, writer; Victoria Whitworth, writer; Dr Mez Packer, writer; Grace Carley, producer; Sam Leith, journalist; Malcolm Clark, television producer-director; Shirley Wishart, musician; Charlotte Delaney, writer; Nehanda Ferguson, musician; Justin Hill, writer; Trezza Azzopardi, writer; Birdy Rose, artist; Jess de Wahls, textile artist; Mo Lovatt, writer; Simon Edge, novelist; Tom Stoppard, playwright; and Amanda Smyth, writer

OP posts:
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AnxiousAdventurer · 29/09/2020 09:19

I've signed too. And maybe write to your professional organisation if you have one - eg Writers Guild, Society of Authors - ask them to speak out.

ArabellaScott · 29/09/2020 09:14

Thanks, Malahaha. Have sent my name.

Doobydoo · 29/09/2020 09:09

Thanks for sharing OP..it is great news.

7Days · 29/09/2020 09:03

Great to see Marhews on there.

irishfeminist · 29/09/2020 08:53

Arthur MathewsGrin

All those woke idiots on Irish Twitter thinking it was Wildean wit to refer to Father Ted as "written by Arthur Mathews" will have to cancel the whole thing now. Feck! Arse!

Malahaha · 29/09/2020 08:45

@Malahaha

The latest is this (being Tweeted and on FB):

If you are a professional creative and want to add your signature to the JK Rowling letter, please send your name and how you wish to be described - e.g. "Jean Doe (artist)" - to the following email address:
[email protected]
For the moment, the letter is still from writers, artists, actors etc. but it's possible (due to demand) that the brief will soon widen to everyone else - so watch this space.

address, see above. It's really an open invitation to artists, writers, and entertainers right now. Will probable open up to others at a later date...
ArabellaScott · 29/09/2020 08:43

Yes, sadly I think using the word 'misogyny' or 'feminism' is considered a 'dog whistle' these days. At least, it is if the person using those words is a uterus-haver.

Malahaha · 29/09/2020 08:43

@Milicentbystander72

Go for it Arabella. Shall I dm you you email address I used. I got it from the Daily Glinner.
The address is on one of my posts a few pages back.

Is there a list somewhere with all the people who have asked to be added?

No, because it is still being built! Grin apparently it's a veritable DELUGE. Anyone who cares to be on the right side of history better get there fast!

Milicentbystander72 · 29/09/2020 08:29

Even though I'm GC, I re-read the letter. There's literally nothing in it that any decent person could disagree with. Standing up against bullying women and misogynistic abuse online?
Who could get angry with us for that right?

ArabellaScott · 29/09/2020 08:26

I'm between publishers. I've been taking note of the craven ones. Would actually be useful to get self put on a gc list to save the bother of a fall out later on tbh. Smile

PearPickingPorky · 29/09/2020 08:22

Arabella and Millicent, thank you both for your bravery!

Oxyiz · 29/09/2020 08:20

Now I wish I'd done something moderately useful with my life instead Grin

Maybe I'll write to my uni "equality" team and ask if they will reconsider some of their pretty-much-enforced transgender training instead.

Milicentbystander72 · 29/09/2020 08:18

Arabella nice to have your company. My publishers may drop me but seeing as I'm mid fiction series with some of them they'd be in such a hole if they did!

ArabellaScott · 29/09/2020 08:17

Yes, please!

Milicentbystander72 · 29/09/2020 08:16

Go for it Arabella. Shall I dm you you email address I used. I got it from the Daily Glinner.

ArabellaScott · 29/09/2020 08:16

And I'm in complete agreement 're career. What would be the point in being a writer or artist if one is only free to mouth certain prescribed platitudes and absurdities? That is not why I do it. Rather be unemployed than a fucking liar, to paraphrase Magdalen.

ArabellaScott · 29/09/2020 08:14

Oh, can one do that, Millicent? I'd happily add my name, little known as it is, as a writer. Will try.

ArabellaScott · 29/09/2020 08:13

Great, Sunset. It's lovely to see the growing support. After all this time.

Milicentbystander72 · 29/09/2020 08:11

I've just added my name to that list/letter via email to Stella O Malley. Feeling a bit scared and a bit proud of myself.

I'm no blue tick but I'm a professional illustrator, moderately known in the children's book illustration circles. I have around 6k followers.

This is first time I've ever spoken out on anything. I may have just fucked my career but I just couldn't sit back anymore and it's a great hill to die on.

teawamutu · 29/09/2020 08:04

Zack has a beard, his pronouns in his bio and describes himself as queer.

My expectations of him having any opinions worth listening to are appropriately adjusted. Downwards.

SunsetBeetch · 29/09/2020 07:57

@yourhairiswinterfire

twitter.com/ZackFord/status/1310665310677204993

Link to one. He's trending on Twatter.

Big Brave Zack (whoever he is) has hidden some replies Hmm
PearPickingPorky · 29/09/2020 07:14

Saw a blue tick called Abi Roberts had replied this to that guy Zack Ford crying about Redmayne.

" If he cared about his career he would have thrown JK under the bus like the other spineless, woke, genuflecting pricks but he’s clearly got a spine. Good for him. "

That is quite the bat for JKR she's made.

(This is the first time I've come across her)

She's giving Redmayne far too much credit though. He's a pathetic weasel.

twitter.com/abiroberts/status/1310702813392121857?s=20

Open Letter from Autors and Entertainers in Support of JKR
contactusdeletus · 29/09/2020 00:33

So many names I'm pleased to see on that list! This is what we need - for more people to stand up and calmly take the middle ground here. No-one wants trans people dead, as the hyperbolic language around the issue would have you believe. We just want women's rights respected equally, and we want the freedom to even have the conversation without being silenced or subjected to the vilest misogynistic abuse.

No rational person could argue with that. The more the likes of Stephen King and Philip Pullman pretend to misunderstand the issue, the more they show themselves to be cowards, who only care for women's rights when it's en vogue to do so.

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