Behind The Spine

The Battle of Cable Street lives on. It may have been just a blip in London’s history, but the sentiment of the day continues to permeate throughout the ages. The coming together of a community against a common enemy, rising up against oppression - well, that narrative is always being retold. That’s why this event has been deemed worthy of remembrance. Marking 85 years since the battle, Father Alan Green, chair of the Tower Hamlets Interfaith Forum, joined a number of other faith and community leaders outside the mural that stands in its memory. In this episode Father Alan explains why the battle still holds relevance today, he discusses the incredible power of diversity and of a community standing together, and he explains why we must always challenge the narratives we are sold. Behind The Spine is the audio accompaniment to The Writing Salon - you can sign up to the newsletter here.

A battle of morals, of defiance, of unity against oppression. The people who rose up in the Battle of Cable Street did so to oust the toxicity of fascism. For next week’s episode we hear from Father Alan Green, one of the faith leaders who joined residents and community leaders to remember the Battle 85 years on. But first we set the scene with this special, exploring the history that led up to the calamitous clash of 1936. We learn how a small and relatively unknown battle had massive implications, we visit a stunning mural that was created to remember the events, and we find out how the sentiments of the past are still relevant today. If you’d like to take part in the Behind The Spine writing competition, you can find all the details on our website.

Following our discussion with Halloween expert and award-winning author Lisa Morton, we’re delving deeper into the origins of some of the most famous Halloween stories. In particular we discover the genesis of the Jack-o’-lantern, which owes its name to one Stingy Jack, a blacksmith who sold his soul to the Devil. We go on an intriguingly ghoulish exploration through the many variations of Jack’s story, and find out how we ended up with the legend of today. If you’d like to take part in the Behind The Spine writing competition, you can find all the details on our website.

Halloween is nearly upon us, a holiday rich in folklore, cultural adaptation and religious propaganda. To delve deep into its history we’ve called in the expert of all experts. Lisa Morton has written many, many books on the subject, including Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween, and is a six-time winner of the Bram Stoker award. In this episode we learn the origins of Halloween as a Celtic festival, we find out how Hollywood turned the holiday into the gorefest we see today, and we hear the legend of Stingy Jack, a devilish man who we can thank for the creation of the Jack-o'-lantern. Behind The Spine is the audio accompaniment to The Writing Salon - you can sign up to the newsletter here.

Emboldened by our discussion with Sumana Roy, author of How I Became A Tree, this special episode is inspired by her thoughts on the natural world. Here we explore the ‘us and them’ mentality that has created our fractured relationship with nature, we discuss the important role of language in fostering a deeper connection between humans and nature, and we share a beautiful recording of the dawn chorus at Kielder Forest. If you’d like to take part in the Behind The Spine writing competition, you can find all the details on our website.

If you had the chance to step outside the bounds of our manmade reality, and live life as something else, what would it be? For today’s guest, Sumana Roy, she would be a tree. Sumana’s book ‘How I Became A Tree’, originally published in India in 2017, has just been released to a global audience. Hailed as ‘a love song to plants and trees’, the book examines what it means to be human in a natural world. In this episode we explore the enchanting concept of “tree time”, we learn how writers of the past can guide the teachings of today, and we discover the power of personification. Behind The Spine is the audio accompaniment to The Writing Salon - you can sign up to the newsletter here.

This special episode draws on our conversation with Tom Chivers, author of ‘London Clay’, examining the role of places and locations in literature and how they should be treated as characters in their own right. Here we display the importance of writing for all of the senses, we explore the interconnectedness of the past and the present, and we explain how memories and emotions influence the way we experience a place. We end with a 60 second soundscape to showcase how visceral the experience of location can be. If you’d like to take part in the Behind The Spine writing competition, you can find all the details on our website.

Beneath London, within its walls, down its secret passageways and ancient riverbeds is a rich and complex history. The city’s past influences its present - even those parts which are long forgotten or out of sight. Our guest today is Tom Chivers, author of London Clay: Journeys in the Deep City. The book reads like a detective story, examining London through its geology, its hidden landscape and the ghosts of its past. In this episode we discuss the powerful role of senses in evoking your readers’ emotions, we explore how intimately connected places and events can be, and we learn how to better appreciate the world around us. Behind The Spine is the audio accompaniment to The Writing Salon - you can sign up to the newsletter here.

Following each interview of this new series, we’ll be diving deeper into one aspect of that conversation. In this episode we’re reflecting on our conversation with Jules Williamson, looking more closely at a point she raised about the ways in which different cultures around the world view death and rebirth. Most religions believe death is not the end, that it’s simply a new chapter in another of life’s adventures, and yet we still fear it. Here we explore the powerful role of death in literature, we examine the weight of responsibility that comes with choosing which of your characters will live and die, and we find out what happens to those writers who go against the grain. To provide further inspiration, in each of these specials we end with a soundscape that captures the vastness of the topic in question...in a single minute. If you’d like to take part in the Behind The Spine writing competition, you can find all the details on our website.

What we see on screen or read in books affects our behaviour in the real world - literature and cinema have a real power to influence. So it’s no surprise to know that invisibility has an impact too. Not seeing ourselves, or people like us represented on screen can be damaging in unimaginable ways. That’s why Off the Rails, a film directed by today’s BAFTA nominated guest Jules Williamson, is such a breath of fresh air - tackling taboo topics through the lives of 3 women in their fifties, who’ve set off on an adventure around Europe with their friend’s 17 year old daughter. In this episode we learn how you, as a writer, can have a hand in improving representation and diversity in film, we discover the importance of allowing actors room for spontaneity, and we explore how the journey is more important than the destination. Behind The Spine is the audio accompaniment to The Writing Salon - you can sign up to the newsletter here.