We are delighted to share with you a series of Hope Tales for a positive future. Comprising of three pocket-sized ‘chapbooks’, the series will showcase street literature focusing on the themes of air, land and water.

Hope Tales is a collaboration between the Rapid Transition Alliance, the Centre for Public and Policy Engagement at the University of Essex and the New Weather Institute, using the power of story to investigate real hope for our future.

Chapbooks were highly popular in the18th-19th centuries. A chapbook was seen as street literature and a chapman was a seller of chapbooks. They were used to publish popular or folk literature, almanacks, children’s stories, folk tales, ballads, political prospectuses, poetry and religious tracts. 

Each book has been co-created during live evening events by a range of artists, writers and thinkers, who come together to share work around a theme. The work performed or shown on the night becomes the content for the next book. The first event was in London, the second will be in rural Somerset and the third will be in coastal Essex.

CHAPBOOK 1: Air