Penned in the Margins bags Acts of Resistance

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 stories from the past, showcasing where the arts have achieved tangible impact as a form of political resistance. The stories span the globe — from Apartheid-era South Africa and the Warsaw Ghetto to indigenous communities in Boliva and the recent Arab Spring uprising. They consider the work of artists, writers, musicians and filmmakers including Susan Sontag, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Claude Cahun and Rabindranath Tagore. 

UK and Commonwealth rights were acquired from Becky Thomas at Johnson & Alcock. Acts of Resistance will be published in 2022.

Massie-Blomfield is an arts professional and creative non-fiction writer. In May 2018 her first book was shortlisted for the Theatre Book Prize in 2018 and received the Society of Authors’ Michael Meyer Award. For Acts of Resistance, she has been awarded a grant by Arts Council England and Gladstone’s Library’s Politics-in-Residence Award, and has undertaken a residency with Arthouse Jersey.

From 2014-2018 she was executive director of Camden People’s Theatre and was selected by the Evening Standard as one of "18 Women to Inspire the Next Generation" on International Day of the Girl 2017. She received the Special Achievement Award at the 2018 Off West End Awards. In 2019 she founded the Creative Nonfiction Club, resident at Pages of Hackney. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, and a graduate of UEA's Creative Writing MA. She regularly contributes articles to the Stage, and has written for the Independent, the Guardian and the Pool, among others.

The book follows her first work, Twenty Theatres to See Before You Die, which was released by Penned in the Margins in 2018. 

Commenting on the acquisition, publisher Tom Chivers said: "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."