The Unsaintly Side of Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi is one of those people whose position as a hero of history is assured. He overcame the most powerful empire on earth…
July 2020 Reading Roundup
I’m writing this in the middle of a two-week quarantine in the UK. Don’t worry, I don’t have any Covid-19 symptoms—it’s just…
Children of the Cave: A Fascinating Finnish Novel of Ideas
In Children of the Cave, Finnish writer Virve Sammalkorpi imagines an encounter between a group of explorers and some strange creatures living…
No, I Don’t Have the Bandwidth Right Now
Something is very wrong with the English language. People have started asking me if I have the “bandwidth” to work on new…
How to Write About Suicide and Self-Harm
The UK Society of Authors recently published a new factsheet on writing about suicide and self-harm, and I wanted to highlight it…
Life-Threatening Repercussions of the Hostile Environment During Covid-19
This is a guest post by Lynsey Burrows at the Immigration Advice Service, an organisation of immigration lawyers based in the UK & Ireland.…
May 2020 Reading Roundup
The COVID-19 lockdown here in Belgrade was very strict in March and April, but this month it ended, and things are more…
How Can We Talk About Climate Change? How Can We Not?
Climate change has become such a clear, species-threatening emergency that sometimes it feels strange to talk or write about anything else. Yes,…
April 2020 Reading Roundup
In a short time, I've gone from travelling full-time to being under strict lockdown in a Belgrade apartment. Perhaps that's why I've…