Weekly Round-Up. October 31st

Oíche Shamhna - Happy Halloween in Irish for those of you not familiar with the language!

Did you know that Halloween originates from Ireland and was exported to the world via the USA following the mass migration of Irish to the States during the mid 1800s as the result of the Famine. The turnips that were traditionally carved were in short supply in the new environment but pumpkins were plentiful, and their use in America was the beginning of one of the core traditions of the modern celebration.

In Ireland the festival was known as Samhain, and marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the ‘darker half’ of the year. Samhain occurred on 1 November, but celebrations kicked of on the evening of 31 October, as the Celtic day began and ended at sunset...

Apologies I didn't send this out last week but my schedule has been completely nuts. My writing has taken a back seat and I'm going to have to work x10000000 to meet my deadlines for November. I'm currently looking at cover options for my new book, What White People Can Do Next. From Allyship to Coalition. The suggested cover is sooo beautiful and many miles from what might be expected. I can't wait to share it with you as well as the book itself of course. My thinking has been deeply influenced by the events and subsequent shifts of this year and I'm excited to present these ideas to the world in fuller form.

As the seasons change, we move into our second major lockdown of the year here in London. As before we are playing catch up with Ireland who have been in lockdown for the previous two weeks. I wonder how this one will play out? With the American election merely days away now and Brexit right round the corner it certainly feels like we’re rushing towards the season’s grand finale, but perhaps the desire for some sort of resolution to all of this intense and psychotic pressure is a craving that will not be satisfied and this shit show will continue in a morphed but unresolved form…

In terms of where we’re at in regards to race, nationalism and its discontents I find Paul Gilroy’s sage interventions unparralled. I read his latest offering today and would love to discuss some of the ideas further https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/paul-gilroy-interview/. Perhaps we could read and discuss articles and essays in this space every so often.

In terms of our next book group, I think we should go with Caste as that seemed to be the one that most people wanted to do. However, November is going to be tricky as I have so much writing to get done, so I think we should schedule it for December.

Speak soon beloveds x