let's get doomscrolling on monday!
Hello! Happy Saturday :) To readers in the south of England: yay it's stopped raining for the first time in about 12 hours! I've got the first outing of my...
doomscrolling as winter comes to naples (aka hello 2023)
Hi there, Hope you're enjoying the most wonderful time of year, Betwixtmas / Liminal Week / the perineum of the year [sorry]! I do love glorious, empty...
Oops - left off the bit about WIPs from today's newsletter
<br /> Dates for WIPs of my second Edinburgh show! • Buttondown Hi all, I've got some dates booked in for Work-In-Progress* performances of my next Edinburgh...
Dates for WIPs of my second Edinburgh show!
Hi all, I've got some dates booked in for Work-In-Progress* performances of my next Edinburgh show, Reunion/Afterparty! It's about the news, nostalgia and a...
See I Miss Amy Winehouse this Friday in London!
⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Leaves you with a smile on your face" - Theatre and Other Things LDN "Vulnerable, poignant and hilarious" - Boom Chicago Comedy Festival "Sneakily dark...
I'm Missing Amy Winehouse all next week!
I'm doing 5 nights of previews next week in north London, I'm excited and scared, do come! Sending out a really quick missive with what I've been up to and...
notes written from inside the storm eunice croissant
Hi all, Not to worry, I'm not actually inside said croissant, pictured above just off the coast of Blackpool. I am of course writing on my laptop in bed, in...
you went back to what you know
Ronnie Spector, who died this week aged 78, with David Bowie and Iggy Pop in 1976 (her expression!!!) Ronnie Spector sings 'Back to Black' in tribute to Amy...
ghostly presences of something strange in a familiar environment
Stevie Nicks in the official video for her 1981 single 'Edge of Seventeen', an absolute banger that caps her concerts; it's resurging in popularity thanks to...
I remember firelight / And you remember smoke
A still from the video for the Amy Winehouse single (my favourite) Tears Dry On Their Own (2006)...
what is going on with pandas
------------------------------------------------------------------ This week's subject line is a sincere question from me - listen to the latest The Week...
our dreams feel real while we're in them
Kendall Jenner and Kim Kardashian at the Met Gala in New York this week ------------------------------------------------------------------ This week's...
there comes a time when every summer will have something of autumn about it
Goodbye summer. I'm going to miss iced coffees the most ------------------------------------------------------------------ This edition's subject line is...
you are connected to every other station, every person, subject to the same forces personal and impersonal
Photograph of Brenda Frazier in 1966 by Diane Arbus - more context in links of the week below Hi there, Just a really quick one from me this week - things...
what's nameless inside our veins fluoresces, fluoresces in the rain
Thank you to Anne-Charlotte Gerbaud for taking this picture of me during my Friday 13th August performance of I Miss Amy Winehouse This edition's subject...
we feel the same emotions for our ideas as we do for the real world, which is why we can cry while reading a book, or fall in love with movie stars
Still from Andrei Tarkovksky's Solaris (1972) TW: Due to the storyline of Solaris, there will be references to suicide in the linked piece below. The quote...
I can’t let my alligator attack consume me
Hi there, I’m finding that I don’t have much left over for these weekly essays at the moment - my creative energy has been spent on press and selling tickets...
I tend to learn as much as I forget
This issue's subject line "I tend to learn as much as I forget" is from Amy Winehouse's 2006 single Close To The Front Hi there, It's August and it's time...
tears dry on their own
From the last set of paparazzi shots of Amy Winehouse, taken on 21st July 2010 Hi there, There’s been a heatwave in London, and honestly? This city was not...
shouting back and leaning out
The late journalist and commentator Dawn Foster on Sky’s paper review, in an image that was shared widely on Twitter last night as news broke of her sudden...
hurt people hurt people (who like or have cats)
The late, great Grumpy Cat Listen: The Script - Hurt People Hurt People Hi there, The Cat Person discourse is back and it’s bigger and more meta than ever...
go into yourself and test the deeps in which your life takes rise
(Screenshot from the 2015 documentary Amy, directed by Asif Kapadia) Today's subject line, "Go into yourself and test the deeps in which your life takes...
trust comes from placing that tender beautiful heart in the other’s gentle keeping
Part of a photo I took during the Amy Winehouse gig at London's Hammersmith Apollo in November 2007 (see my insta for more) This week's subject line is from...
your art is the dignified display of the heartbreak that is the debt of living
A screenshot from the music video of Sinéad O’Connor’s hit cover of Prince’s song ‘Nothing Compares 2U‘ (1990) This edition’s subject line can be found (with...
my work is loving the world
Amy Winehouse and Popworld presenter Simon Amstell in a 2004 segment about her BRIT Award nominations (Imagine 17 years ago, a time when Amy couldn’t get...
every bad situation is a blues song waiting to happen
(Illustration from GQ magazine) Hi there, This edition's subject line is an Amy Winehouse quote, which I found in this 2011 piece from The Indy: Over the...
while the magic and beauty are really in ourselves
(The view from my desk. L: Graffiti Amy Winehouse, artist unknown; R: Vogue cover, March 1919, ‘A Woman and Cherry Blossoms’, illustrated by Helen Dryden Hi...
birthday week and the summer of 2021
Hi there, The gorgeous artwork at the top of this edition is by the artist The Postman, and is on the side of The Caxton Arms in Brighton. The person behind...
slowly emerging, blinking, from lockdown; then, a birthday
Hi there, Bit of Freelance Pod news - I’m recording two more episodes to hit the big 5-0 before reassessing what I do with the podcast in the future. The two...
the caterpillar cakes aren't coming for you
Hi there, While on the latest The Week Unwrapped, we argue that the underreported stories of the week that could have lasting impacts on our lives are global...
tomorrow is today’s dream
Hi there, London is enjoying a strange, snowy / sunny spring that I'm just fully enjoying no matter how cold it actually is out there. Sunshine! Blossom!...
yesterday is but today's memory
Hi there, I’ve moved from Substack to Buttondown Email. Hopefully nothing’s changed for you! Will write properly soon, All the best x The subject line of...
somehow, suddenly, it's spring again
Hi there, Reader, I’ve been sneezing, just a little bit. It’s not a cold (I yearn for the levels of human contact required to get one of those, but I fear...
the ear of someone you love
Hi there, What are the podcasts and audiobooks that have helped you get through a year of lockdowns and silly little walks? Suchandrika @SuchandrikaCi tell...
the crown and the thick of it
It’s me, Suchandrika Chakrabarti! How to pronounce my name I’m now on Clubhouse - find me @suchandrika Reply to this newsletter or email me:...
mini-newsletter: i've got a gig tomorrow
It’s me, Suchandrika Chakrabarti! How to pronounce my name I’m now on Clubhouse - find me @suchandrika Reply to this newsletter or email me:...
these irreplaceable days (part 2)
It’s me, Suchandrika Chakrabarti! How to pronounce my name I’m now on Clubhouse - find me @suchandrika Reply to this newsletter or email me:...
these irreplaceable days (part 1)
It’s me, Suchandrika Chakrabarti! How to pronounce my name I’m now on Clubhouse - find me @suchandrika Reply to this newsletter or email me:...
images that shimmer around the edges
It’s me, Suchandrika Chakrabarti! How to pronounce my name I’m now on Clubhouse - find me @suchandrika Reply to this newsletter or email me:...
weekend thread: holiday nostalgia
It’s me, Suchandrika Chakrabarti! How to pronounce my name I’m now on Clubhouse - find me @suchandrika Do comment on the thread at the bottom of the text! Hi...
the power to author a new chapter
It’s me, Suchandrika Chakrabarti! How to pronounce my name I’m now on Clubhouse - find me @suchandrika Reply to this newsletter or email me:...
we long to stop longing
It’s me, Suchandrika Chakrabarti! How to pronounce my name I’m now on Clubhouse - find me @suchandrika Reply to this newsletter or email me:...
we walked enchanted & nothing held us back
It’s me, Suchandrika Chakrabarti! How to pronounce my name Hi there, We did it. We got to the end of the hell felt-like-a-decade year 2020. Welcome to the...
we didn't take enough photos
It’s me, Suchandrika Chakrabarti! I’m a freelance journalist, podcaster and comedian based in London, England. I make Freelance Pod. You can also find me on...
London Writers' Salon masterclass on personal essays
It’s me, Suchandrika Chakrabarti! I’m a freelance journalist, podcaster and comedian based in London, England. I make Freelance Pod. You can also find me on...
a tall, pleasant englishman, currently living in islington
Hi there, Just a quick one from me today. Enjoy this vintage Neil Gaiman-Douglas Adams interview! It popped up on Twitter thanks to a fan account, which I...
some instants are electric
Hi there, One of my favourite poems, Summing Up by Claribel Alegria, popped up on social media this week. I’ve been thinking about personal essays a lot...
give me your childhood in all its aching glory
Hi there, A (somewhat) calmer week for news has got me thinking about hometowns. The title of this week’s newsletter is from the poem Lessons on Longing, by...
hope for all four seasons total landscaping
Hi there, What a week for hope! And, of course, for Four Seasons Total Landscaping. Imagine trying to remember all the details of 2020 in the future, and not...
the many layers of a life lived
Hi there, Colbert’s emotional monologue about Trump and the election says more than I could, so here it is: A Late Show @colbertlateshow"If you did not know...