Working-class & comic novels receive little scholarly attention in the UK. Funny working class novels really struggle, however loved they are. Seems less so in Europe, which explains why Sue Townsend's work receives more scholarly attention there. This is nice: www.ethesis.net/townsend/tow...

Our designer David has a game called fantasy classics, where he chooses books he thinks should be published as classics. With him all this way on this one. Look out for an episode of our Working Class Library podcast about it, featuring the great novelist and Mole fan David Nicholls, coming soon.

Now we've closed our first open submissions, we made a little list offering some thoughts on what makes proposals stand out, and where writers might think about tuning them up. thebeemagazine.com/advice-for-w...

We started off looking at social class in Dracula as a bit of fun really, but it's more interesting than you might think. It's fairly well known that vampires were often used to refer to the parasitical rich in the 18th and 19th centuries - in this picture by Walter `Crane.

We'll be recording our episode on class in Dracula at Whitby Lit Fest in November. Join us if you dare 🧛🏻‍♀️ whitbylitfest.org.uk/event/the-wo...

We'll be celebrating the 40th anniversary of this modern working-class classic on Wednesday, with @helenmort.bsky.social . If you're in the area, join us if you can 🍊

RIP Tony Harrison. One of the great 20th-century British poets and indescribably inspiring to working-class writers "Next millennium you'll have to search quite hard to find my slab behind the family dead, butcher, publican, and baker, now me, bard adding poetry to their beef, beer and bread."

"I don’t think I’ll ever really be middle-class," says Stephen Tuffin. It’s like being British and going abroad – I tell other middle-class people I’m just there in their world as a visitor.” Read his heartbreaking short story about a boy left alone with his father when his mum leaves, here:

Really enjoyed this from @damianbarr.bsky.social Such a good understanding of how social class doesn’t just influence lives, but also silences voices. Damian unions how that works, and how it feels.

One Conservative commentator says it's time we stopped "sanctifying" "working-class credentials" 😐 It's one of those moments when you realise some middle class people's idea of what being working class involves doesn't have much to do with reality. thebeemagazine.com/are-working-...

One reason literature tends to be seen as “middle class” is working-class writers and books being class-washed – presented and adapted in ways that strip out their working-class identity. Lark Rise to Candleford is a prime example.

Becka White, you may remember, is a working-class writer from south-east London with a rare gift for combining the personal and the political in her work. We published her story In Search of the Perfect Mushroom Omelette in July. This time, she has written a coruscating critique of local...

In order to want to save the planet, a person must feel they belong in it. Yet Black people are often told they do not belong in certain places.

Come one, come all.

We're proud to publish @darrenmcgarvey.bsky.social on the UK's health lottery & why health inequality is a political choice. Right now there's a lot of bogus blaming in the news that distracts from real issues like this. This is an honest assessment, based on real experience.

Often mistaken for a middle-class Oxbridge graduate, much to his annoyance. In fact a great champion of working-class talent, and supporter of what we're trying to do. This interview seems to have pleasantly surprised a few people, hope you enjoy it:

More press indecision about working-class kids under-performing at school, and how they need more attention - contrasting with moans about initiatives to actually change things, on the grounds that you can’t identify class.

Crime fiction is the fiction of social history. Societies get the crimes they deserve - Denise Mina The best crime novels use the processes & impact of crime & justice to get under the skin of society, and Mina is one of the best. Her The Good Liar skewers modern London like few others this year:

One theme that comes up over & over again talking to wc writers is being sneered at for buying from certain low-cost brands, shops, cafes etc - but those things giving them and their kids a brief feeling of inclusion. Just as common in left/liberal mc as anyone else.

Someone needs to tell Buffy.

Some important points about censorship here, but also worth saying that there would be less need for sensitivity readers etc. if publishing was more diverse in the first place. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/790320...

In Terminus, the fantastic Lynsey Hanley takes us on a journey through Birmingham by bus, where every commute tells a story about connection, city life and social class. Hop on and read the full story below 👇 🔗 thebeemagazine.com/terminus

The Parallel Paths one of our favourite memoirs of 2025 so far, from and it's from a one this county's top-notch working-class writers.

"“Having been raised by women who fought for equality, and that famous 90s ‘women can have it all’ lie," says @jennyknight.bsky.social, "Women now actually want to see it in action.” The Bee in conversation with the top-notch working-class novelist🐝🐝

RIP and thank you, Allan Ahlberg.

There are still 12 days to go before our first open submissions for new working class writing closes.🗓️ Pitch us! See here for details: thebeemagazine.com/open-call-fo...

Interesting thread here:

"Class has a uniform," writes Matt Taylor. "Whenever I slip back into a tracksuit, Tesco staff follow me around the store, and the cashiers ask for ID. If I go for a run, police stop me and ask why I’m running." He writes for us about clothing and class today: thebeemagazine.com/tracksuits-a...

Great novel by @jennyknight.bsky.social

Becka White is a great working-class writer and human rights campaigner from south-east London. She's written for the New Statesman and the Times Educational Supplement – her piece Why Don’t Children’s Book Characters Live in Flats?, published in the latter...

"You’ve got to ask yourself, would Oasis’s inspiring ascension be possible now? Sutton Trust research reveals a stark truth: younger adults from working-class backgrounds are 4 times less likely to work in creative industries compared to their middle-class peers." www.standard.co.uk/comment/oasi...

A quick reminder that we're currently accepting pitches for stories for publication. The time we're looking for stories - fiction or non-fiction - about what it means to be working class in 2025. Pitch us! Full details: thebeemagazine.com/open-call-fo...

We’ve Just opened our first open submissions window for working-class writers. We’re looking for stories that capture something about being working class in Britain in 2025. Can be fiction or non-fiction, & 500-3000 words long. Please pitch us. Details here: thebeemagazine.com/open-call-fo...

From the great woman's Nobel lecture in 2022.

This is a great piece Love the bit about the compliment that felt like an insult 👏

The same heat that lots of people are outside working in, obviously, but maybe it’s harder for tennis fans in some way. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Since this interview, the youngest-ever Carnegie winner has also won a @uklitassociation.bsky.social award for Glasgow Boys. One of the best young working-class writers out there without doubt www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Listening to all the furore, you could almost imagine Glastonbury was set up to raise money for an anti-war organisation.

🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨

Everyone knows by now that this is about class and privilege, but for us it's the way @wednesdayerskin.bsky.social shows how modern class works that makes it so good.

As the Government confirmed it would go ahead with its cuts to disability benefits, we asked @mayajordanwrites.bsky.social what it meant to people on the receiving end.

Sophie Underwood is surely a unique working-class writer, who lives and works in a remote, off-grid woodland hut in the north-east of England...

The emphasis here on social connections is predictable but great to see it being highlighted. When we talk to people about class – particularly young people - nepotism is always one of the biggest issues. Often THE biggest. www.93percent.club/thebigstates...

Très bien, M. Louis.

Very happy to see Tom Newlands, an alumnus of our Writing Chance programme, win the Society of Authors McKitterick Prize for Only Here, Only Now. Yet another confirmation that he's an important new voice in British publishing.

The British Government has always officially classified writing as a middle-class occupation — a decision that owes as much to historical prejudice as to fact.

Very interesting -