I never knew my grandfather Joe. He’d been in the army since his teens as a member of the Royal Horse Artillery’s ‘L’ Battery. He was born in 1890 in a tiny house opposite the gasworks in London’s Pimlico (long before it was fashionable), and he was 24 when war broke out. He was a … Continue reading My Grandfather Joe
For those of you who enjoyed Lizzie’s second blog instalment last week, Women Without Men, this recently released book by Lucy Fisher might be of particular interest: Women in the War For those of you who watched or attended Remembrance services this Sunday just past, Lizzie’s third and final instalment of her war poetry and remembrance … Continue reading The World Will Soon Forget
Much of the poetry I found was written by women; there is hardly any need to state the sadly obvious reason for this. They were still alive, and they were still willing to take up their pens to add some postscripts to their war poems. There is much of the grief of bereavement in their … Continue reading Women Without Men
One hundred years ago the world was in a state of recovery. The immense trauma of the First World War had been swiftly followed by a pandemic, as the Spanish flu tore through country after country. The last cases were recorded in 1920, so that for the duration of six years, death, destruction, uncertainty and … Continue reading The Empty World
Autumn Voices first heard of code-breaking sisters, Jean and Pat Owtram, through an episode of the Guilty Feminist podcast. We knew their book sounded very special and very entertaining and we couldn’t wait to include them in one of our monthly content themes. We’re thrilled to feature this book, published last year, and Mirror Books … Continue reading November: War & Remembrance
This week, we’re proud to celebrate American writer Mary V. Macauley. It is technically Black History Month in the UK (the USA and Canada celebrate it in February), but we’re thrilled to be making new friends and connections around the world, especially as Mary’s first book was published while she was living in England. Pushing … Continue reading Author Spotlight: Mary V. Macauley
Abdourahim was born in the Comoros Archipelago on the island of Grande Comoro (Ngazidja) in 1953 into a family of ten and grew up in the capital city of Moroni. There, he received both his primary and secondary education. Following the award of his French Baccalaureate Diploma, he got a scholarship to further his studies … Continue reading Black History Month: From the Comoros to Scotland
Black British writers, publishers and bookshops – because we love books! Last week we started celebrating Black History Month with general information and links to organisations or sources (more knowledgeable than us) to explain anti-racism and white allyship. This week we’re honouring some of the Black British people at the forefront of bringing us arguably … Continue reading Celebrating Black History Month 2021
During September we asked you to send in your flash fictions on the topic of pets, animals and the natural world. Thank you to all those who took the time to enter. All the Autumn Voices staff held a secret ballot to choose our favourite and the eventual winner was: Roger Knight, who’s 70 and … Continue reading Flash fiction – Pets, animals and the natural world – Winner Announcement
* This blog post is intended as a very broad starting point for our older white audience members who are keen to learn how they can be an ally, and as an act of solidarity with older Black people, who we very much hope to welcome to the Autumn Voices community. It was written by … Continue reading Autumn Voices celebrates Black History Month 2021
Each February, LGBT+ History month celebrates everything queer in our collective past. For this month’s OUTing the Past Festival I’ve been researching the twentieth century life of Morley Clarke and his partner Roland Spence – a tailor and a bookseller respectively in post-war Leicester. Their experience typifies the lives of gay men in the twentieth … Continue reading Past stories, present realities: LGBT+ History Month
I would not have previously described my working life as particularly creative. However, on reflection, maybe I was satisfying a creative urge but just not realizing it. Usually inventive and imaginative ideas were developed with others so I didn’t always appreciate my own input. From trained scientist to youth social worker to ESOL teaching and … Continue reading Caught Unawares by Creativity
