Write On! 19 is out today: Themed Reality And Perspectives this issue is jam-packed with writers and creatives who face a blank page everyday and yet are still able to curate a perspective of continual hope. Award-winning actor and author Paterson Joseph discusses the power of connecting history to modern perception with interviewer Thomas Nixon:

“Writing about Sancho was an act of remembrance for me. I wanted something private: an intimate form of storytelling. I wanted these diaries to show the journey of an articulate man being victimised by a system that wants to crush him. His survival, and why he wanted to survive, is fundamental.”

Issue sponsors Dialogue founder Sharmaine Lovegrove speaks to Iole Dexter about the importance of celebrating the abundance inherent in multi-cultural voices:

“I’m a black queer woman. Why am I minoritised or marginalised? That’s not how I feel or how I live in the world. What I’m aware of is structures. Structural racism and structural inequality where because of empire and history, people aren’t given opportunities. The ownership of people and the oppression of people, that’s where we’re really coming from with this.” 

Other highlights include our Insight ‘Agony’ page, featuring Gita Ralleigh and Millie Murray, the Big Debate which explores the importance of book reviews, the Directory, featuring events and writing opportunities such as the newly launched Bloomsbury Academic Writing Fellowship and in Our Story, Lena Smith tells us about what’s coming up for publishers Pm to Print. As ever, the Showcase pages, drawn from the online Write On! Extra and podcast Write On! Audio, feature the wonderful writing of emerging and established writers pulled together through the vibrant Write On! community.Write On! Audio.

This printed edition continues to be inspired by work featured in the online Write On! Extra and podcast Write On! Audio.

Write On! 20, out on April 10, is themed ‘Beginnings And Endings’ leads with stellar author, Kit De Waal. It is sponsored by All Stories.

SEE ISSUE 19 HERE.

Launched in April 2019, Pen to Print’s Write On! continues to reach new readers as Barking & Dagenham’s Arts Council England Library NPO (National Portfolio Organisation) magazine. United by a desire to come together beyond boundaries of geography, culture and expectations, Write On! is created by and for writers. Write On! is available digitally and through Barking and Dagenham libraries and other libraries and centres in different parts of London, Devon, Manchester, Birmingham, Kent, Newcastle, the West Midlands and Essex. University distribution points include Christchurch, Sunderland and Goldsmiths. Increasingly, we are sharing the printed magazine with writers from across the UK who are asking for copies for their writing groups and local bookstores.

Pen to Print is part of Barking and Dagenham Libraries which means the ethos of the organisation is founded on promoting an inclusive community spirit. Due to the reach or our publications, which includes Write On! Audio and Write On! Extra in the digital sphere, we connect beyond Barking & Dagenham to create wider ripple effects. We are therefore delighted that this has encouraged 175,000 users from 198 countries to respond to the ideals of engagement transparency, connection and inclusion.

A Call to Action:

In keeping with Pen to Print’s vision that everybody should have the chance to tell their story and inspire potential in others, we welcome new writing and ideas from London, the UK and internationally. The Write On! 20 Beginnings And Endings theme will inform content for the digital Write On!  Extra (accessible through pentoprint.org) and podcast Write On! Audio (on all major podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Just type Pen to Print into your browser. Alternatively, find us via our Spotify Podcast hosting site).

1. 1. For up-to-date editorial information, including how to submit to the Write On! suite of publications, including audio, see: The Editor’s Introduction.
   2. Partnerships: Write On! has already facilitated partnerships and co-operation with Hay Festival, Writers’ and Artists’, All Stories, Bloomsbury, Penguin, the Wilbur and Niso Smith Foundation, Write Back UK, the Curtis Brown Agency, The Margate Bookie, University of Derby, Christ Church University Canterbury, The University Of Sunderland, The Romantic Novelist Association (RNA), the Alternative Stories and Fake Realities Podcast, The Turner Contemporary, Libraries Unlimited (Devon), The London Library, Becontree Broadcasting Station and the Barking and Dagenham Talking Newspaper (making Write On! available in a spoken form) many others are currently being explored. If you would like to discuss ideas, please do get in touch at: pentoprint@lbbd.gov.uk
   3. To advertise online or in the next issue please see our newly launch Write On! Together magazine, with demographics, testimonials and lots of information as to how to get involved as a sponsor, advertiser, volunteer and creative.