2014 Commissions

2014 saw two rounds of commissions. At our Weatherfronts literary event in June five commissions were awarded, included here.

Sarah Butler writes novels and short fiction, and has a particular interest in the relationship between writing and place. She has been writer-in-residence on the Central line and at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Her debut novel, Ten Things I’ve Learnt About Love, is published by Picador in the UK and in fifteen languages around the world.

Stevie Ronnie is a writer and artist with a background in computing. His work, often collaborative and participatory in nature, spans art forms to produce interactive pieces for publication, exhibition, installation and/or performance. Stevie is currently working on a series of visual and literary works inspired by a recent residency in the High Arctic.

A group of activist writers, all with a deep commitment to social and climate justice, consisting of Sai Murray, Selina Nwulu and Zena Edwards. Three of the group have been published in the climate change collection No Condition is Permanent, and their collection of poems will centre on how climate change affects diaspora communities.

Dan Simpson is a spoken word poet and performer. Canterbury Laureate 2013-14 and Waterloo Station Poet in Residence, his poetry has featured on the BBC and London Underground. He has performed at major festivals, events and venues around the UK, and has worked on literary projects for Southbank Centre, Royal Academy of Arts, and the EC. He crowdsources poetry and his first collection is forthcoming from Burning Eye.

Nick Hunt is a freelance writer and storyteller. His first book, Walking the Woods and the Water, is an account of an eight-month walk across Europe in the footsteps of Patrick Leigh Fermor. His journalism has appeared in major publications, investigating melting glaciers, language extinction and the effects of climate change on human cultures and beliefs. He also works as co-editor of the Dark Mountain books, and full-time editor of their blog.

There is a downloadable PDF of all the commissions. As a foreword TippingPoint’s Director wrote the following:

During the research for his recent book Don’t even think about it; why our brains are wired to ignore climate change, climate change communications expert George Marshall talked to Nobel prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman. His response? “I am very sorry, but I am deeply pessimistic. I really see no path to success on climate change.” To expand, he adds “To mobilise people, this has to become an emotional issue. It has to have immediacy and salience. A distant, abstract and disputed threat just doesn’t have the necessary characteristics for seriously mobilising public opinion.”

This is the challenge that TippingPoint has been wrestling with for the last ten years: doing our best to stimulate creative thinking that translates the remote and uncertain into something with enough of a sense of urgency about it that people feel able to take hard personal decisions, and leaders feel confident enough to take tough political ones.

Although it is certainly a creative challenge, we have found that there seems to be no limit to the number of forms, voices, and approaches that can be used to bring new and powerful perspectives to the subject. An example: Professor Chris Rapley, who gave a really valued presentation at the event that brought this document into being, has recently been ‘starring’ in 2071, the show co-written with Duncan Macmillan and directed by Katie Mitchell at the Royal Court Theatre. A climate scientist at the Royal Court, brought back by popular demand, remarkably garnering both 1 star and 5 star reviews! What can be happening?

And, of course, the work in this document, commissioned following one of the many two day meetings TippingPoint has held. It was attended by 66 writers and 20 climate experts – an intensive exploration of the scientific ‘facts’, the politics, the creative possibilities and more. Many submitted excellent proposals for new work, from which a panel chose these for financial support.

These writers may or may not believe that mobilising public opinion is their job – though I suspect most would at least nod in that direction – but they are certainly playing their own enormously valuable part in translating the impact of that distant and uncertain threat into something more salient. Emotion? Without doubt. Abstract? Hardly.

Peter Gingold, Director, Tipping Point

Following our September event two further commissions were awarded - to Motionhouse and to fanSHEN. These are currently work in progress, and it would be inappropriate to include greater detail at present.

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