Welcome to Constitution Street.

The year is almost over but we’re not done with the announcements just yet. We’re chuffed to tell you that in Autumn 2019 we’ll be publishing human rights campaigner Jemma Neville’s debut Constitution Street! The announcement comes on the 70th anniversary of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Constitution Street considers what real life stories from neighbours on one street in Leith reveal about today’s constitutional crisis in an age of anxiety. Part memoir, part social history, part exploration of a new constitution for the day we live in, it encourages a reclamation of human rights practice as something that belongs to each of us, too important to be left solely to politicians and lawyers.

Jemma gets to know the people and stories that have lived on her street for decades, showcasing real life accounts of perseverance, courage and vulnerability, and that extraordinary stories are waiting behind every door. Constitution Street takes a view on the global issue of human rights through the lens of one street and its inhabitants.

(Photos by Jemma Neville)

“Human rights famously begin in the small places close to home and, much like the mix of neighbours living side by side and in common on a street, are interdependent upon one another,” says Jemma. “I think this is true now more than ever in the best and the worst of times here and in the world at large. I’m really delighted to have chosen 404 Ink and their independent approach to publishing for my letter to the law and home, Constitution Street.”

We’re personally very excited to bring Jemma’s - and the inhabitants of Constitution Street’s - story to more people, considering the bigger questions of the world around us through one street. Constitution Street is due to publish in September 2019; pre-orders will open in the new year. You can follow Jemma at @jemma_tweets.