Wildmind BriefThe Names
We Gave
Things
“Language holds place. When a place changes, the language that described it becomes untethered. We wanted someone to write about that — the names we gave things that no longer exist, or exist differently now.”
Direction
Literary. Rigorous. Personal voice welcome — in fact, required. This is not a commissioned academic paper. We wanted a writer who had felt the thing they were writing about, not just researched it.
The relationship between language and place. The specific focus was left to the maker. Marcus chose the topography of disappearance — what it means for a word to outlive the thing it named.
Deliverables
- 8,000-word long-form essay
- Research notes and bibliography
- First serial rights to Quiet River Press
- Author retains all other rights
Maker's note — Marcus Adeyemi
“I approached this through the lens of specific places in West London — streets whose names refer to things that no longer exist. The pub that became a flat. The river that became a road. The field that became a suburb. The essay traces what it means to live inside a word that has outlived its referent.”
Field tags
Support
£400 flat fee
+ byline in all publications
Credits — Completed 2023
Maker
Writer · Long-form non-fiction
Producer
Quiet River Press
Independent publishing
Platform
Wildmind
Wildmind · Brief document