From top left, clockwise: Jeanette Winterson, Ian McEwan, Zadie Smith and Irvine Welsh.

Israel-Gaza war

Zadie Smith and Ian McEwan among 380 writers and groups to call Gaza war ‘genocide’

Letter also signed by Hanif Kureishi and Russell T Davies urges ceasefire and unrestricted distribution of aid

Ella Creamer

Wed 28 May 2025 05.00 BST

Three hundred and eighty writers and organisations including Zadie Smith, Ian McEwan, Russell T Davies, Hanif Kureishi, Frank Cottrell-Boyce and George Monbiot have signed a letterstating that the Israeli government’s war in Gaza is genocidal and calling for an immediate ceasefire.

My hero: Kate Bush by Jeanette Winterson

 

Inhabiting another reality … Kate Bush in 1986.

My hero: Kate Bush by Jeanette Winterson

Kate Bush gave my 19-year-old self a strategy for both life and art – that's why I'll be there next week to watch her again

Jane Winterson

Idrove from Oxford in my hand-painted yellow Morris 1000 van to see Kate Bush at the Hammersmith Apollo in 1979. I was 19. It was my first visit to London and my first live event, not counting a lifetime of Gospel Tents. But this was salvation of a different kind.