King's Cross Editorial Office: stories from then, now and soon

About

King’s Cross is a thriving hub of city-centre activity where cultures, roles and meanings collide on a daily basis. Every week vast numbers of people commute into and away from its busy stations, into a neighbourhood with a relatively small residential population of around 12,000. Amongst its most renowned institutions and centres sit the British Library, Central St. Martins, University of the Arts London, the Wellcome Collection and the Royal National Institute of Blind People.

Home to a diverse cross-section of the metropolitan community with countless centres and businesses reflecting its cosmopolitan characteristics, the area has several centres for women, young people and refugees as well as spaces for community groups and meetings, two mosques, numerous churches, a Buddhist centre and countless cultural hubs. After English, the most commonly spoken languages in the area are Bengali, French, Chinese and Somali. Perhaps as  a result of all this commerce and action, it is currently one of the most highly polluted parts of London.

Traditionally, left-field literature has taken centre-stage in King’s Cross, which boasts the UK’s first and only gay book shop in the UK, Gay’s the Word, as well as Housmans Bookshop, one of the longest-running radical bookshops in the country. With varied and sometimes hidden histories – such as the now-obsolete river Fleet which was a key source of inspiration to the poet William Blake, and the never-realised King’s Cross airport – the area remains an enigma, ripe for discovering new truths.

CONTRIBUTE TO OUR JOURNAL

With a mission to showcase the communal knowledge of the King’s Cross neighbourhood, behind the walls of our Editorial Office we hope to capture some of Kings Cross’s rich heritage and possible futures by collecting your stories ideas, recipes, thoughts and news that we will publish in an online journal. We welcome contributors of all ages, from residents both past and present, to people involved in local businesses, organisations and groups; from individuals with an ancestral or academic attachment to the area, to those who hope to form a future connection or to imagine its possible future. Whatever your ideas, we’d like to hear them!

Visit us at our Centre or contact Zina Monteiro via

Email: associate@artscatalyst.org

Phone Number: +44 (0)20 7278 8373