WRITE UP London We Did It! Can We Do It Again?
What was WRITE UP and how you can get involved this time
Hello, I’m Amy Beeson and it was my honour to host WRITE UP in London this summer. That beautiful night was a celebration of voice, courage and community.
We can be proud that:
10 writers shared their work
60 people came
+100 people pledged.
Together we created something rare; a grassroots crowdfunded event funded by people who cherish the written word. It was a living, breathing creative but political act. Every writer who read was paid for their work. It was a clear message to funders’ about how much we value stories and the people who create them.
It was not sentiment, it was substance.
It was not about creating sympathy, it was to drive sustainability.
Thank you to the amazing writers, the volunteers and all the generous people who pledged, thank you so much.
WRITE UP: Christmas Edition
I’m so excited to announce that WRITE UP: Christmas Edition in now open. We’ll be gathering and sharing stories on 13 December in London. Pledging now would help build support and momentum to increase donations from supporter and funders.
Donation Tiers
£2-£24 Thanks for your donation, you’re wonderful
£25 - £49 - You get a ticket to the event
£50 - £99 - You get a ticket, some drinks and nibbles, and are listed as an official sponsor
£100 and over - You get a ticket, drinks nibbles and are listed as an official patron and a writer will host your table.
N.B. (You can donate a little at time to move up the tiers, if that makes it more affordable).
Read your work and get paid
Submissions are open for WRITE UP: Christmas Edition until 10pm on Sunday 9 November. Make sure you’re signed up to get an email with all the announcements.
Tom Wentworth
Playwright
made his name on stage, screen and audio. He’s known for his funny and political dramas on disabled and queer experiences. At WRITE UP he share a new style of writing, shaped by his publication The Dressing Gown Draft. I Love It When You Call, walked the line between dramatic monologue and memoir. You can read it here:
Danusia Malina-Derben
Powerhouse
was the last reading of the evening with an unforgettable finish of raw, fearless writing about desire, motherhood and what home really means. You can find her piece on Parents Who Think.
Emma Simpson
Award winning
debut author of Breaking Waves, opened the evening with an exclusive extract from her current project, The Purple Vine Tea House. Her publication Lemon Soul is well loved for Emma’s invitation to slow down and pay attention to life’s quieter moments. Her writing is rich in sensory detail, emotional nuance and her ability to uncover something profound in the seemingly ordinary.
Matt Taylor
’s piece Tracksuits was condensed yet powerful, precise, poetic and perception altering. Through layered meaning and emotional depth, he captured how we survive in a class-conscious society, revealing themes not just of resilience but quiet defiance. His story lingered, challenged and entertained with striking subtly. He shares his unique perspectives as a care-leave, music producer and Oxford University postgraduate on his publication Underclass Hero. Matt has recently added to his increasing list of literary awards with The Bronze Award for Creative Nonfiction from Creative Future. 
Rachael B
performed her poem Reading. Her work felt like the most intimate of whispered conversation or monologue - deeply honest, raw and unflinchingly personal. Rachael gently unwrapped the complexities of home and belonging, not as a place we live, but as a feeling we carry. Her poetry collection Sauce Will Thicken On Standing too invites us into a space of healing and self-discovery, where vulnerability becomes strength, and silence finds its voice. You can watch a video of Rachael reading it here:
Joanna Milne
gave a wonderful performance of her piece Home Was In A Suitcase. Joanna’s writing blends vivid storytelling with deep reflection on home, identity and resilience. In this story she brought family history to life through her unique classical lens using her grandfather’s childhood journey as a refuge as the inspiration, showing the strength that can be found in tracing where we came from. You can discover this and more of Joanna’s work in
.
Michaela J Ralph
is a London based writer and audio storyteller on . Her piece Until Someone Asks Again explored memory, identity and feeling caught between places. It was a personal and thoughtful account about what it means to be asked, “Where do you come from?” and the emotions that question can bring up. It was honest, relatable and beautifully written and contained transportive sensory imagery. After the event Michaela shared her thoughts on what it means to be paid and to be witnessed reading our work out loud.
Louise Morris
’s poem Dandelions and Roses was nostalgic, evocative and laced with threads of class, accent and storytelling. A lyrical, intimate memoir-poem journeying full circle from Yorkshire lass to a mother’s creative homecoming. Louise not only writes on Anatomy of a Decision but is also the creator of LiveStack a directory of Substack real life events. Recently Louise and Emma Simpson had a video conversation about opening up the conversation about death.
Ranjini Nair
Nair’s melodic tender piece was an aching portrait of love, language and loss. She explored how memory and language become lifelines to the communities we carry with us in her piece Vatsalyam (Familal Love). You can connect more with Ranjini’s artistic journey on Soft attention curls on my shoulder like a cat. 
And finally, me. Goodness. It’s funny the paths life takes you. In May I put an idea out into the world to crowdfund a night where writers actually got paid to read their work. The connections that created rippled out far and wide and I’m so excited to be trying to pull it all together once again for WRITE UP: Christmas Edition.
Get Involved
Please submit a piece by 9 November.
Please come on 13 December. It’s a huge Christmas party and everyone is welcome.
If you can’t come please pay it forward and pledge what you can.
Huge thank you to my husband
Uddin who took the photos, helped set up and man the bar. We started our journey together 25 years ago to the day of WRITE UP in the bar of the Birmingham Rep after our worked had been performed by professional actors in a young playwrights festival. So you truly never know when you submit a piece where it might take you. You can read all about his return to theatre after a 16 year break in on his new Substack.
Huge, huge thanks to the volunteers front of house
, , and on the book stall.
You were amazing. Couldn’t have done it without you. It’ll be mulled wine and mice pies when we meet again.
WRITE UP: Christmas Edition is Now Live!!!
I don’t like filling in funding forms, they are very boring, but totally worth it if we can get our event matchfunded again. If you supported or came to WRITE UP in July in London, we’re back for a Christmas Edition. Maybe you didn’t get round to it, or didn’t know about it, it doesn’t matter.
Thank you
And a final big huge thank you to everyone who pledged and made this happen. If anyone would like to pledge to WRITE UP: Christmas Edition that would be amazing. We really need to show we have support of the community to get the matchfunding.
Thank you
Karolina Pelc,
Catherine Powell
Jessica Coates
Sylvia Heal
Rosalind Birtwhistle
Rosie Lewis
Bridget Hill
Mary Cressley
Alice Olds
Anja Andersson
Davina Shelley
Matt Schmid
Jeremy from the Gym
Lily E-G
Daf James