Welcome

Let the soft animal of your body love what it loves is a newsletter from the desk of Edinburgh-based activist and writer Ruby Bayley.

Who am I?

Hi, I’m Ruby.

Over the last decade, I’ve been a charity worker, activist, writer, and maker of miscellanea. I’ve worked across humanitarian aid, human rights, and now menstrual equity and climate justice, as Fundraising Lead at Friends of the Earth Scotland and trustee at Bloody Good Period.

Alongside this, I’m studying for an MSc in geography, a degree that is reshaping how I see the world and deepening my understanding of political ecology, environmental justice, and more-than-human rights. It has profoundly influenced my organising, my creative practice, and the ways I imagine and work toward change.

I’m one big cultural identity crisis: I grew up in Quito, Ecuador and then spent my teenage years in Speyside, Scotland. I am deeply curious about language, identity, displacement, and belonging. I also write about trauma and healing as someone living with complex post-traumatic stress disorder.

My practice is grounded in a love of natural phenomena, especially volcanoes and the sea, and a deep interest in the ways landscapes and bodies carry history, memory, and potential. I move between worlds: activism and academia, art and strategy, English and Spanish. This multidimensional perspective shapes how I think, make, and organise - whether creating strategy, facilitating collaborative spaces, or writing for change. I am driven by a strong sense of justice and a commitment to read, learn, and imagine other worlds.

Let the soft animal of your body love what it loves is a space for readers to access my writing about the above themes and more, and to support me to create original work on my own terms.

Thanks for reading — I hope you enjoy…

*Portrait photo by Diana Patient