Brutalists

Brutalism is a literary movement formed in 2006 by three writers from the north of England (Tony O'Neill, Adelle Stripe and Ben Myers), and may have been the first literary movement to be launched via the social networking site Myspace where it announced itself with the following manifesto:

"Brutalism calls for writing that touches upon levels of raw honesty that is a lacking from most mainstream fiction. We cannot simply sit around waiting to be discovered — we would rather do it ourselves. Total control, total creativity. The Brutalists see ourselves as a band who have put down their instruments and picked up their pens and scalpels instead. The only maxim we adhere to is an old punk belief, which we have bastardized for our own means: Here’s a laptop. Here’s a spell-check. Now write a book.."

This article is about Brutalist writing. For Brutalist architecture, see Brutalist architecture.

Brutalist works include Digging the Vein, Down and Out on Murder Mile, Seizure Wet Dreams, and Songs from the Shooting Gallery by Tony O'Neill, Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid and Cigarettes in Bed by Adelle Stripe, and The Book of Fuck, Richard: A Novel and Pig Iron by Ben Myers.

Their debut publication Nowhere Fast was released as a chapbook on Captains of Industry Press in 2007.

The Brutalists are affiliated with the Offbeat generation, a loose association of like-minded writers working across different styles but united by their opposition to a mainstream publishing industry driven by marketing departments.

Brutalism 2 Cheap Thrills was released in summer 2009 as part of Mineshaft Magazine, where a new collection of Brutalist poems featured alongside unpublished work by Robert Crumb and Charles Bukowski.

  • O'Neill, Tony. Digging the Vein, Wrecking Ball Press, UK First Edition, 2007. ISBN 978-1-903110-18-8
  • O'Neill, Tony. Songs from the Shooting Gallery, Burning Shore Press, US First Edition, 2007. ISBN 978-0-9768859-2-4
  • O'Neill, Tony. Down and Out on Murder Mile, Harper Perennial, US First Edition, 2008. ISBN 978-0-06-158286-8
  • Myers, Ben. The Book of Fuck, Wrecking Ball Press, UK First Edition, 2004. ISBN 978-1-903110-15-7
  • Myers, Ben. Spam: Emailed Inspired Poetry, Blackheath Books, UK First Edition 2008. ISBN 978-1-906099-07-7
  • Myers, Ben. Richard: A Novel, Picador, UK First Edition 2010. ISBN 978-0-330-51703-4
  • Stripe, Adelle. Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid, Blackheath Books, UK First Edition, 2008. ISBN 978-1-906099-09-1
  • Stripe, Adelle. Cigarettes in Bed, Blackheath Books, UK First Edition, 2009. ISBN 978-1-906099-17-6
  • The Brutalists' MySpace home
  • Article about The Brutalists on The Guardian online edition
  • Wrecking Ball Press, the UK Publishers of 'The Book of Fuck' and 'Digging The Vein
  • Article about The Brutalists and Offbeat Generation on The Guardian online edition
  • Captains of Industry Press, UK publishers of The Brutalists


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