In this discussion, cancelled author Rosemary Jenkinson and Prof Diane Rasmussen McAdie reflected on language, free speech, and authoritarian control through the lens of Rosemary’s 2025 dystopian satirical novel, The Memorisers. Set within a society where those in power erase individuality and enforce collectivism through language, the conversation reveals how this mirrors today’s real-world trends.
Diane and Rosemary explored how the struggle for accurate and free expression, and for open access to information that language conveys, has become a battleground. Viewers and listeners are invited to reflect on these deeper contextual questions as they read the novel.
Rosemary Jenkinson is a short story writer, playwright, essay writer, novelist, and poet from Belfast. Her debut novel The Memorisers was published in 2025 by Arlen House and was praised by Donal Ryan as “brilliantly speculative” in The Sunday Times. Her short story collection, Love in the Time of Chaos, was shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize. She is an Arts Council of Northern Ireland Major Artist and Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Queen’s University.
From the novel’s back cover:
- The Memorisers is a blistering portrayal of World War III and a satire on the west’s current assault on free speech. Jo is a journalist reporting from the front line of a war-torn country. One day she wakes up in hospital after being caught in a drone attack. The problem is she can’t remember the story she was covering…
The Memorisers can be purchased from Blackwells. Follow Rosemary on X and on Facebook.