Red Pepper is rooted in national and international movements for radical social and environmental change.
A typical Red Pepper article offers background and context to political issues, challenges dominant intellectual/political thinking or mainstream media framings, addresses important issues that haven’t been covered elsewhere, or provokes debate on pressing topics for the left.
We are not a source for breaking news. We publish articles that will be relevant to future and present readers. Before submitting anything for consideration, be sure you are familiar with our political approach.
Articles should explore complex issues in an accessible way, where possible, avoiding jargon and academic language. Online articles are generally 650 – 1,200 words long.
Pitch us an article
We are always looking for new writers and ideas. Our contributors include unpublished writers, frontline activists, academics, campaigners and experienced journalists. Articles published in the print edition are proactively commissioned according to issue themes and written specifically with the magazine in mind.
We, however, welcome pitches for website content.
Your proposal / pitch should include:
- A 100-150 word outline your article or idea. Provide a clear overview of the story, its main argument(s), tone, style (i.e. comment, review, investigative piece, research-based, testimony, etc.) and target length
- Links to previous published work, if applicable
- Indicate whether you are sending this pitch exclusively to Red Pepper
- NOTE: We will not read full articles or long pitches. Even if you have written a full piece, send us a brief outline
Send your pitch to one Editor only – see below for contact details.
If we are interested in your pitch, we will contact you. Our Editorial team is very small, and it may take up to a week to receive a reply. Unfortunately, we are unable to reply to every submission. If you do not hear from us within a week, please assume that we have decided not to pursue your proposal this time. That does not mean we don’t want to hear from you again in the future.
Payment
We strive wherever possible to pay contributors. As a non-profit magazine with a strict ethical advertising policy, pay-what-you-can subscription rate and open access website, we are however extremely tight on funds.
We prioritise payment for articles to emerging and freelance writers, in particular, people on lower incomes and from backgrounds under-represented in the media. We encourage writers with stable and/or higher incomes to waive their fees so it can go back into our Writers’ Fund.
At present, we can offer a £62 flat fee for online and between £60 – 90 for print. We hope to increase our fees in the future.
Editorial Collective
Sanaa Alimia is an academic. Pitch her articles on cities, refugees, anti-colonialism, surveillance, war; Asia, Africa, Afghanistan, Pakistan.
Email: sanaa[at]redpepper.org.uk / Twitter: @SanaaAlimia
Malia Bouattia is a writer and activist. Pitch her articles on race; feminism; western imperialism; liberation movements; the Middle East; Africa, and education.
Email: malia[at]redpepper.org.uk / Twitter: @MaliaBouattia
Kimon Daltas is an editor and journalist. Pitch him articles on: arts and culture, particularly music and arts funding; Greece.
Email: kimon[at]redpepper.org.uk / Twitter: @kimondaltas
Gerry Hart is a writer based in County Durham. Pitch him articles on: disability and neurodiversity; welfare; history; technology and video games; culture, and the North of England.
Email: gerry[at]redpepper.org.uk / Twitter: @PoorConrad
Lydia Hughes is a union organiser and writer. Pitch her articles on work, labour organising and trade unions; extra-parliamentary politics and social movements.
Email: lydia[at]redpepper.org.uk / Twitter: @lydiakathleenh
Andrew Hedges is an activist and editor. Pitch him articles on: trade unions, economics, class, Labour Party and electoral politics, and book reviews.
Email: andrew[at]redpepper.org.uk / Twitter: @Andrew_Hedges_
Liam Kennedy is a researcher and writer. Pitch him articles on: trade unions, inequality, social mobility and class, South America, and book reviews.
Email: liamk[at]redpepper.org.uk / Twitter: @liamkennedy_
Siobhán McGuirk is a researcher, writer and filmmaker. Pitch her articles on migration; feminism and LGBTQ+ rights; arts, museums, film and cultural analysis.
Email: siobhan[at]redpepper.org.uk Twitter: @s_mcguirk
Amardeep Singh Dhillon is a journalist, trade unionist and bartender. Pitch them articles on: race and migration; climate justice; liberation struggles; trade unionism; co-operatives, and the Labour Party.
Email: amar[at]redpepper.org.uk / Twitter: @AmarDeepSinghD
Hilary Wainwright is the founding editor of Red Pepper. Pitch her articles on movement history; health and the NHS; political theory, and the Labour Party.
Email: hilary[at]redpepper.org.uk / Twitter: @hilarypepper
Ananya Wilson-Bhattacharya is a writer and activist. Pitch her articles on: arts and culture, particularly literature; feminism; race; anti-fascism; protest, and South Asia.
Email: ananya[at]redpepper.org.uk / Twitter: @AnanyaWilson
Jake Woodier is a campaigns organiser and writer. Pitch him articles on: climate justice; environmental politics and economics; organising and social movements; food systems, land and agriculture, and science.
Email: jake[at]redpepper.org.uk / Twitter: @JakeWoodier
Rhian E. Jones is a historian, researcher and writer from South Wales, based in London. Pitch her articles on: history; arts and culture, particularly music and literature; Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, Wales; social mobility and class; workers’ organisation. Rhian is currently on sabbatical and unable to respond to pitches.
Twitter: @RhianEJones
