Rosie Spinks: 'Community doesn't just arrive – it's an active process'

A full-length edition of my conversation with Rosie Spinks, writer of What Do We Do Now That We're Here?

Rosie Spinks, writer of Substack ‘What Do We Do Now We’re Here?’. Credit: Alex Baxter

This is a full-length transcription of my conversation with

Rosie Spinks

, author of Substack-featured publication

What Do We Do Now That We're Here?

Exclusively for paid subscribers.

Francesca Specter
Rosie, I love your work. Connection and community are topics I think about a lot, and I keep coming back to your essays. I’d love to hear how you came to explore these themes. Am I right in thinking you’ve moved a number of times in your life?

Rosie Spinks
Yes, I’m a dual citizen. My parents are British, but I grew up in California. I moved to London right after university, travelled a lot in my twenties, but have mostly lived in the UK since. I lived in London for a decade. Then, in 2020, I moved to Margate, which was a pandemic-motivated decision that worked out well. I met my now-husband there. We had a child in 2022, and last year moved to Leeds to be closer to his family. The move really played into this topic for me. What I was doing in Margate wasn’t working. After moving here, my writing on this subject began to resonate with people. That changed how I thought about it. We live in a villagey suburb in North Leeds and love it.

Francesca Specter
So you’re absolutely the right person to write about the challenge of finding connection and community around you. You’ve lived it. I imagine with varying degrees of success?