'A collection of heart-songs to our planet': Culture Declares Emergency to Launch Book of Letters to the Earth

Yoko Ono – a contributor to ‘Letters to the Earth’

'A collection of heart-songs to our planet': Culture Declares Emergency to Launch Book of Letters to the Earth

Contributors include Sam Lee, Blythe Pepino and Yoko Ono.
 

Letters to the Earth, a book featuring letters from artists and members of the British public in response to the climate crisis, will be launched in London this Sunday (17 Nov.). The book was initiated by climate action group Culture Declares Emergency who made an open call for submissions of letters to the earth. The group received over one thousand submissions, a selection of which are included in the book. The launch in Arboretum on Charing Cross Road will see authors read from the book, followed by music and speeches from the editorial team. 

Featuring contributions from Yoko Ono, folk singer Sam Lee and indie songwriter Blythe Pepino, Letters to the Earth: Writing to a Planet in Crisis mixes the voices of the public with notable artists and also includes poet and writer Kate Tempest, Scottish broadcaster Richard Holloway, novelist Laline Paull and English actor Simon McBurney. The book also includes drawings by illustrator Jackie Morris and the audiobook is voiced by actors including Juliet Stevenson, Emma Thompson, Mark Rylance and Zawe Ashton. 

International Extinction Rebellion
Earlier in the year, letters submitted to the project were read at fifty-two venues across the UK in the lead up to the International Extinction Rebellion in October. They were also performed at Extinction Rebellion’s ‘Day Of Love’ on April 19th, performed by youth strikers and actors including Emma Thompson, Paapa Essiedu and Lee Ross.  

Commenting on the book, Jackie Morris said:

Letters to the Earth is a collection of heart-songs to our planet. Written at a time when we have a choice to face the knowledge that humanity have, by their actions, done incredible damage to the ecosystem, and at a time when we have a last chance to make a change. They are not a call to arms, but a call to link arms and work together, using all of our imagination to find ways to cure, to heal both ourselves and the earth.

For more, visit www.letterstotheearth.com.

 

Published on 13 November 2019

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