''LeftLion'' is a printed and online culture and listings magazine which covers

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

. It was originally set up by three childhood friends, Jared Wilson, Alan Gilby and Tim Bates, and launched as a website on 1 September 2003. The first issue of the printed magazine came out a year later in Autumn 2004. The printed magazine was published bi-monthly from 2004-2014. Then, following a successful crowdfunding campaign on

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

they raised the funds to publish the magazine monthly, which it has done ever since. The online magazine is updated daily. The publication takes its name from a stone lion in Nottingham's

Old Market Square The Old Market Square (Slab Square) is an open, pedestrianised city square in Nottingham, England, forming the heart of the city, and covering an area of approximately , or about 3 acres. It is one of the largest paved squares in the United K ...

, which since

Nottingham Council House Nottingham Council House is the city hall of Nottingham, England. The high dome that rises above the city is the centrepiece of the skyline and presides over the Old Market Square which is also referred to as the "City Centre". It is a Grade ...

was built in the 1920s has served as a

meeting point Meeting Point (Chinese: 匯點) was a liberal political organisation and party in Hong Kong formed by a group of former student activists in the 1970s and intellectuals for the discussion for the Sino-British negotiation on the question of Hong ...

for people in

Nottingham City Centre Nottingham city centre is the cultural, commercial, financial and historical heart of Nottingham, England. Nottingham's city centre represents the central area of the Greater Nottingham conurbation. The centre of the city is usually defin ...

Contributors

LeftLion is put together by a range of creatives who all either live in or have links to the city of

. Most of these contribute on a voluntary basis. Contributors have included Al Needham, actor

Paul Kaye Paul Kaye (born 15 December 1964) is an English comedian and actor. He is known for his portrayals of shock interviewer Dennis Pennis on '' The Sunday Show'', New York lawyer Mike Strutter on MTV's '' Strutter'', Thoros of Myr in HBO's ''Game ...

Miles Hunt Miles Stephen Hunt (born 29 July 1966) is an English singer, songwriter and guitarist. He fronts the alternative rock band The Wonder Stuff. Early life His father was a union official for the TGWU. In the 1970s, his father was based at Derby, an ...

(lead singer of

The Wonder Stuff The Wonder Stuff are a British alternative rock band. Originally based in Stourbridge in the West Midlands, England, the band's first lineup released four albums and nearly 20 singles and EPs, enjoying considerable chart and live success in the ...

Nicola Monaghan Nicola Monaghan is an English novelist and author of ''The Killing Jar'', ''Starfishing'' and ''The Okinawa Dragon''. She grew up in Nottingham, England, and gave up a career in finance to pursue an MA in creative writing at Nottingham Trent Uni ...

, Tom Hathaway (author of Full Bacon Jacket), Rob Cutforth (award-winning Canadian blogger), Wayne Burrows, Ash Dilks, Jennie Syson, Andrew 'MulletProofPoet' Graves, Nathan Miller and Roger Mean. The current editorial team consists of Bridie Squires, Jared Wilson, LP Mills, Aly Stoneman, Ashley Carter, Emily Thursfield, Alex Kuster, Anna Murphy, and Gemma Fenyn. Previous editors have included Alison Emm, Al Needham, and Jared Wilson. The magazine's artistic team is run by Alan Gilby and Natalie Owen, and features regular contributions from Raphael Achache, Si Mitchell, Rob White, Rikki Marr, and Dominic Murray. Cover artists in 2013 included

Jon Burgerman Jon Burgerman is an English artist living in, New York, US. Life and work Jon Burgerman studied art foundation in Bournville, Birmingham, England. He graduated in fine art from Nottingham Trent University in 2001. In 2008, he appeared as a ...

and Jon Blanche.

Interviewees

People who have been interviewed in the pages of their magazine include

Derren Brown Derren Brown (born 27 February 1971) is an English mentalist, illusionist, painter, and author. He began performing in 1992, making his television debut with ''Derren Brown: Mind Control'' in 2000, and has since produced several more shows fo ...

Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including ''Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', ''The Ballad of Halo Jones'', ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman:'' ''The Killing Joke'', and ''From Hell' ...

Public Enemy "Public enemy" is a term which was first widely used in the United States in the 1930s to describe individuals whose activities were seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society, though the phrase had been used for centuries to describe p ...

, Paul Smith,

The Prodigy The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music band formed in Braintree, Essex, in 1990 by producer, keyboard player and songwriter Liam Howlett. The original line-up also featured dancer and singer Keith Flint and dancer and occasional l ...

Juliette Lewis Juliette Lake Lewis (born June 21, 1973) is an American actress and alternative rock singer. She is known for her portrayals of offbeat characters, often in films with dark themes. Lewis became an "it girl" of American cinema in the early 1990s, ...

Roots Manuva Rodney Hylton Smith, better known by his stage name Roots Manuva (born 9 September 1972), is a British rapper and producer. Since his debut in 1994, he has produced numerous albums and singles on the label Big Dada, achieving commercial succes ...

Dizzee Rascal Dylan Kwabena Mills (born 18 September 1984), better known by his stage name Dizzee Rascal, is a British MC and rapper. A pioneer of grime music, his work has also incorporated elements of UK garage, bassline, British hip hop, and R&B. Dizze ...

David Nobbs David Gordon Nobbs (13 March 1935 – 8 August 2015"C ...

Noel Fielding Noel Fielding (; (born 21 May 1973) is an English actor and comedian. He is best known for his work with The Mighty Boosh comedy troupe alongside Julian Barratt in the 2000s, and more recently as a co-presenter of ''The Great British Bake Off'' ...

, Ed Byrne,

Shane Meadows Shane Meadows (born 26 December 1972) is an English director, screenwriter and actor, known for his work in independent film, most notably the cult film '' This Is England'' (2006) and its three sequels (2010–2015). Meadows' other films i ...

Jonathan Glazer Jonathan Glazer (born 26 March 1965) is an English film director and screenwriter. Born in London, Glazer began his career in theatre before transitioning into film. Over the course of a career spanning nearly three decades, Glazer's directing ...

Klaxons Klaxons were an English rock band, based in London. Following the release of several 7-inch singles on different independent record labels, as well as the success of previous singles " Magick" and " Golden Skans", the band released their debu ...

Jon McGregor Jon McGregor (born 1976) is a British novelist and short story writer. In 2002, his first novel was longlisted for the Booker Prize, making him then the youngest ever contender. His second and fourth novels were longlisted for the Booker Prize ...

Alex Hales Alexander Daniel Hales (born 3 January 1989) is an English cricketer. He is a right-handed opening batter who currently plays for Nottinghamshire and the England cricket team in white ball, limited overs formats. He made his One Day Internatio ...

, Alice Oswald, Alexei Sayle, Sir Andrew Motion, Alan Sillitoe and The Sheriff of Nottingham. They were the only media organisation who ever interviewed

Frank Robinson Frank Robinson (August 31, 1935 – February 7, 2019) was an American professional baseball outfielder and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played for five teams, from to . The only player to be named Most Valuable Player (MVP) of bot ...

and the last publication to interview Nottingham author

Alan Sillitoe Alan Sillitoe FRSL (4 March 192825 April 2010) was an English writer and one of the so-called "angry young men" of the 1950s. He disliked the label, as did most of the other writers to whom it was applied. He is best known for his debut novel ...

and journalist

Ray Gosling Raymond Arthur Gosling (5 May 1939 – 19 November 2013) was an English broadcaster, journalist, author, and gay rights activist. He wrote and presented several hundred television and radio documentaries and regional programmes for BBC Radio 4 ...

Awards and press

In late 2006 and 2007, ''LeftLion'' was nominated for a series of awards including Best Free Music Magazine by Record of the Day, Ambassadors of Nottingham by

BBC Radio Nottingham BBC Radio Nottingham is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving the county of Nottinghamshire. It broadcasts on frequency modulation, FM, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on London Road ...

. The ''

Nottingham Evening Post The ''Nottingham Post'' (formerly the ''Nottingham Evening Post'') is an English tabloid newspaper which serves Nottingham, Nottinghamshire and parts of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire. The ''Post'' is published Monday to Saturday ...

'' referred to them as "the high priests of Nottingham culture". In 2009, LeftLion won the '

Writing Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically Epigraphy, inscribed, Printing press, mechanically transferred, or Word processor, digitally represented Symbols (semiot ...

and

Publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

' award at the Nottingham Creative Business Awards, in a ceremony held at the

on 7 October 2009. They were also runners-up for the award of Creative Business of the Year. In 2012

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

cited LeftLion as being partially responsible for an "artistic boom" in Nottingham in an interview with

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the first ...

actor

Joe Dempsie Joseph Maxwell Dempsie (born 22 June 1987) is an English actor, best known for his roles as Chris Miles in the E4 teen comedy-drama '' Skins'' (2007–2008) and Gendry Baratheon in ''Game of Thrones'' (2011–2013; 2017–2019). Dempsie's e ...

who also said: "It's a great paper. It's played a massive part in Nottingham's sense of creative identity right now." In 2013, the publication celebrated its tenth anniversary with

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Contributors

Interviewees

Awards and press

Events

References

External links