Independent publisher Penned in the Margins has acquired an ‘inspirational’ creative non-fiction book by writer and arts professional Amber Massie-Blomfield.
Acts of Resistance tells a series of astonishing stories from the past – moments when the arts have achieved genuine impact as a form of political resistance. These stories span the globe – from apartheid-era South Africa and the Warsaw Ghetto to indigenous communities in Boliva and the recent Arab Spring uprisings – and consider the work of artists, writers, musicians and filmmakers including Susan Sontag, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Claude Cahun and Rabindranath Tagore. Massie-Blomfield will draw on a rich store of material to consider the meaning and relevance of the arts and ‘reinvigorate readers with the power of creativity, looking to the past to learn what we may be capable of today’.
Acts of Resistance follows Massie-Blomfield’s critically acclaimed first book, Twenty Theatres to See Before You Die, which was released by Penned in the Margins in 2018 and praised by Holly Williams in the TLS as ‘Wide-ranging, open-minded … a sustained and deep inquiry into what theatre is and what it does’.
Publisher Tom Chivers says, ‘Acts of Resistance is a powerful, timely and inspirational book about art, politics and the people that make it happen. And as with Amber’s first book, it is both rigorously researched and evocatively written. This year has really shown how much we need the arts; Amber makes a compelling case not for art as pure escapism, but as the basis for cultural and societal change. I’m overjoyed to be working with her again.’
UK and Commonwealth Rights were acquired from Becky Thomas at Johnson & Alcock. Acts of Resistance will be published in 2022.
