Event type: Talk

Join internationally acclaimed writer, historian and activist Rebecca Solnit for a special online event exploring her powerful new book- The Beginning Comes After the End: Notes on a World of Change. 

In this urgent and illuminating work, Solnit argues that while climate breakdown, democratic erosion and the rise of authoritarian politics dominate the headlines, they do not tell the whole story. Beneath the turbulence, she traces what she calls a “slow revolution”: the patient, persistent work of movements and communities reshaping the world in ways reactionary forces cannot tolerate. 

With clarity and moral force, Solnit explores how change often begins quietly before it becomes visible; how despair narrows our political imagination; and how the myth of inevitability serves those invested in the status quo. Drawing on decades of activism and feminist and climate justice thought, she reframes hope not as naïve optimism, but as a disciplined commitment to possibility. 

In this online conversation, Solnit will reflect on contested futures, collective action and why new worlds are already emerging – even in moments of backlash. 

A timely and galvanising event with one of the most influential public thinkers of our time. 

Rebecca Solnit is the author of more than twenty-five books, including Orwell’s Roses, which was shortlisted for the 2022 Orwell Prize for political writing, Recollections of My Non-Existence, which was longlisted for the 2021 Orwell Prize for Political Writing and shortlisted for the 2021 James Tait Black Award, The Faraway Nearby, Wanderlust, A Field Guide to Getting Lost, A Paradise Built in Hell and Hope in the Dark. She is also the author of Men Explain Things to Me and many essays on feminism, activism, social change, hope, and the climate crisis, and writes regularly for the Guardian. 

A longtime climate and human rights activist, she serves on the boards of Oil Change International and Third Act. Her newsletter of essays and analyses can be found at meditationsinanemergency.com 

Liverpool’s a laugh – but not always a happy place. Rhythms: Volume Three of the Diary of the Smyth Wailey’s brings that contradiction vividly to life, tracing a city shaped by movement, memory and the restless pull of the waterfront. Spanning generations, this powerful work weaves together intimate family stories with the wider social history of Liverpool, from the turmoil of the 1911 Transport Strike to the shifting tides of the twentieth century.

At its heart are lives marked by longing, loss and resilience: Nelly Flanagan’s desperate hope for a child amid war and hardship; decades later, her grandson John Paul confronting a very different dilemma in a changing world. These personal journeys echo the rhythms of a port city where global currents meet local lives, where dockers, seafarers and families navigate both solidarity and struggle.

Blending history, culture and lived experience, the book captures a Liverpool where art, music and rebellion are inseparable from everyday life. This launch event invites you to explore a city of contradictions—where sorrow and joy sit side by side, and where the past continues to pulse through the present.

Tony Wailey was born in Liverpool in 1947 and worked as a seafarer and construction worker before studying modern history, writing his thesis on Liverpool seamen. He later spent over 25 years advising mature students in universities and adult education before becoming a freelance writer.

He is the author of eight books, including novels and three poetry collections. His work explores the cosmopolitan nature of Liverpool as a maritime city, often focusing on migration, memory and family history. His recent books, Diary of the Smyth Waileys and Lights Bearing West examine the narratives of place and heritage, from the Liverpool waterfront to global settings shaped by the city’s seafaring connections.

Date: Tuesday 12th MayTime: 7pmVenue: Quaker Meeting House Liverpool, 22 School Lane, Liverpool, L1 3BT

 

Comma Press presents The Monster, Capital with Ian Carrington, Kiare Ladner and Sarah Schofield chaired by Ra Page, a bold new anthology from the acclaimed Theory Horror series, edited by David Sue and Ra Page.

Inspired by the writings of philosopher Mark Fisher and his concept of Capitalist Realism, this collection imagines capitalism as something monstrous — an abstract parasite, a zombie-maker, a force that consumes, reshapes and haunts our lives. Drawing on folk horror, body horror and the surreal, thirteen writers explore algorithmic obsession, parasocial addiction, vanishing communities and the eerie logic of the market.

A gothic reckoning with late capitalism — unsettling, urgent and darkly imaginative.

Ian Carrington is a Manchester writer who, as ‘Fat Roland’, has enjoyed a long performance career. He co-compered live literature night Bad Language, twice voted the UK’s best regular spoken word event. He has written features and columns for Electronic Sound magazine and fiction for Comma Press.

Kiare Ladner is the author of Nightshift, a novel about obsession and nocturnal lives (Picador 2021; HarperCollins 2022). Her short fiction has been anthologised, commissioned for radio and shortlisted in competitions, including the BBC National Short Story Award. She teaches and mentors writers in London. She grew up in South Africa and now lives in London. www.kiareladner.com

Sarah Schofield is an award-winning writer of short fiction. Her stories have appeared in several Comma Press anthologies, Best British Short Stories 2020 (Salt), Synaesthesia Magazine,  Morning Star, Woman’s Weekly, Hinterland and many others.  Sarah is a Creative Writing lecturer at Edge Hill University.Her debut collection Safely Gathered In was published by Comma Press in November 2021

Date: Wednesday 6th MayTime: 7pmVenue:  The Black-E, 1 Great George Street, Liverpool, L1 5EW,Tickets: £5

 

 

Don’t miss this special opportunity to hear from one of the most celebrated writers of our time, Colm Tóibín, in conversation with Professor Frank Shovlin.

Tóibín will discuss his striking new short story collection, The News from Dublin — a profound and deeply moving sequence of stories that span continents and generations, from wartime Ireland to Barcelona, Argentina and beyond. Moving between lives marked by exile, secrecy and loss, these luminous narratives explore family ties, displacement, and the enduring pull of home and memory.

Born in Enniscorthy in 1955, Tóibín is the author of acclaimed novels and short story collections including The Empty Family, Brooklyn, The Master, The Magician and Long Island. A three-time Booker Prize finalist, he has also received the David Cohen Prize for Literature, served as Laureate for Irish Fiction (2022–2024), and was Chancellor of the University of Liverpool until 2017.

He will be joined by Frank Shovlin, Professor of Irish Literature at the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Irish Studies, and an acclaimed critic and editor, known for his work on Joyce and John McGahern, including The Letters of John McGahern (Faber & Faber) and the forthcoming biography John McGahern: A Writing Life.

Venue:  The Black-E, 1 Great George Street, Liverpool, L1 5EW

Tickets: Book and ticket bundle: £28, ticket only: £12/£10 concessions

 

At a time when cultural memory feels fragile and hard-won progress is under strain, Black Women Speak Volumes centres voices too often pushed to the margins — particularly those of older Black women whose lives, labour and creativity have shaped Britain in profound and lasting ways. Dr Rebecca Loy will chair a powerful conversation with esteemed authors and activists Cathy Tyson, Yvvette Edwards, Maria O’Reilly and Linda Loy.

Presented in partnership with Speaking Volumes, to celebrate the publication of Challenging Britannia: Black British Women Speak Volumes edited by Sharmilla Beezmohun and published by the George Padmore Institute.

Join us for an evening of intergenerational dialogue, testimony and celebration — reclaiming space in the historical record and amplifying voices that refuse to be overlooked.

Yvvette Edwards is a British author of Montserratian heritage. Her novels A Cupboard Full of Coats (Kirkus Best Book of the Year) and The Mother have been widely acclaimed, with the latter named by Bernardine Evaristo as one of her Top 20 Books by Black British Womxn Writers. Her most recent tragi-comic novel, good good loving, continues her powerful exploration of love, survival and the emotional landscapes of Black British life, rendered with depth, humour and unflinching honesty. Her work has been nominated for major awards including the Man Booker Prize, NAACP Image Award and Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Her short story Security appears in New Daughters of Africa. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Liverpool-born Cathy Tyson rose to prominence for her acclaimed performance in Mona Lisa (1986) alongside Bob Hoskins. She has since built a distinguished career across film, television and theatre, including Band of Gold, Emmerdale and work with the Royal Shakespeare Company. She is known for powerful performances in both mainstream and socially engaged roles.

Maria O’Reilly is a lifelong racial justice activist from Liverpool. A member of the Liverpool 8 Defence Committee following the 1981 Uprisings, she later worked for the Commission for Racial Equality (1979–1989) and served as Coordinator of the L8 Law Centre (1989–2002), helping provide vital legal and social justice services to the community.

Dr Rebecca Loy is Diversity and Inclusion Partner at National Museums Liverpool, specialising in oppression, diversity and inclusion. She holds a PhD in this field and was named on the Northern Power Women Future List in 2023.

Linda Loy was an active member of the Liverpool Black Organisation and the L8 Defence Committee, campaigning for the establishment of the L8 Law Centre.

Venue: The Women’s Organisation, 54 James Street, Liverpool L1 0AB

 

 

 

The Black-E, 1 Great George Street, Liverpool L1 5EWThursday, May 21  •  7 PM – 9:30 PM

On 1 April, Chris Nineham, vice-chair of the Stop the War Coalition, and Ben Jamal, Director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, were found guilty under the Public Order Act for organising a peaceful pro-Palestine demonstration in London on 18 January 2025. Responding to the verdict, Nineham described it as “one more indication of a disturbing authoritarian turn in British society” and called for urgent discussion about how it can be challenged.

He is joined by Stephen Kapos, Holocaust survivor and lifelong anti-racist activist who was questioned by police following the 18 January demonstration, and Basma Ghalayini, Manchester-based editor, translator and activist born and raised in the Gaza Strip.

Campaigners for civil liberties argue that this case is about far more than a single protest. They place it within the wider context of increasing restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly in Britain. Recent legislation — including the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and the Public Order Act 2023 — has significantly expanded police powers to impose conditions on demonstrations and restrict protests deemed disruptive. The proposed Crime and Policing Bill could go further still, with measures such as “cumulative impact” raising concerns that protests may be curtailed simply because they occur frequently, rather than because of participants’ conduct.

Many warn that these developments pose a serious threat not only to solidarity with Palestine, but to democracy itself.

Join Stephen Kapos, Basma Ghalayini and Chris Nineham for an urgent discussion on what these legal shifts mean, whether democratic rights are being eroded, and how they can be defended.

Basma Ghalayini is an editor and translator, born in Khan Younis and raised in Gaza City. She is the editor of Palestine +100: Stories from a Century After the Nakba, Voices of Resistance: Diaries of Genocide, and Palestine – 1: Stories from the Eve of the Nakba. Her translations have been published by Commonwealth Writers, Deep Vellum Press and Comma Press in books including Banthology, The Book of Ramallah and The Book of Cairo. As a journalist, she has written for the New York Times and Wasafari. 

Chris Nineham is a founder and vice-chair of the Stop the War Coalition. Arrested in 2025 during a pro-Palestinian march, he pleaded not guilty to Public Order Act charges. He helped organise the historic 2003 anti-war protests, the 2001 Genoa G8 protests, and the European and World Social Forums. A regular media commentator, he writes for Stop the War, Counterfire, and others.  

Stephen Kapos is a Hungarian-born and Holocaust survivor whose life story spans some of the most dramatic events of the 20th century. Born in Budapest in 1936, he survived the Holocaust as a child, an experience that profoundly shaped his worldview and later campaigning. After emigrating to the United Kingdom following the Hungarian Uprising of 1956, he trained and worked as an architect and exhibited as a visual artist. A Labour Party member since the 1990s, Stephen Kapos served in Holborn & St Pancras under MP Frank Dobson. In 2023 he resigned after being threatened with expulsion for speaking at a Holocaust Memorial Day event organized by the Socialist Labour Network, which the party had proscribed. He denounced what he described as a “McCarthyite” culture under Keir Starmer’s leadership.  He is an active speaker and educator on Holocaust remembrance, dedicating much of his later life to sharing his testimony with younger generations to promote awareness, tolerance, and historical understanding He remains active in the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Holocaust Survivors Against Genocide.