Sontag, Baldwin, hooks: On Reading As a Gateway to Empathy and Love
Susan Sontag had a writing mind like no other that I've encountered. She was a force, a magnetic personality born with an insatiable urge for knowledge, and she dedicated her…
Remembering Toni Morrison and James Baldwin: The Grandeur of The Bluest Eye and The Fire Next Time
Toni Morrison and James Baldwin have provided us with some of the most important works when it comes to African-American literature. When Morrison passed away in August 2019, a myriad…
I Dare You To Breathe: Maggie O’Farrell’s Memoir “I Am, I Am, I Am”
From our earliest days, most of us fear death and learn to regard it as an unwelcomed guest, an entity to be avoided at all costs. And yet, there are…
Alan Lightman’s Belgrade Lecture: The Intricate Artistry of Scientific Exploration
Rainer Maria Rilke once said that in art we should love the questions themselves. As an individual raised on questioning the world and people surrounding me as well as someone…
One Day by David Nicholls: A Charming Plunge into Romantic Realism
David Nicholls was a name that didn't ring many bells in the literary world prior to the publication of One Day in 2009. Born in Hampshire, England, Nicholls discovered a…
The candour of Zadie Smith’s debut novel White Teeth
White Teeth is Zadie Smith's debut novel and a powerful portrayal of a new England – a multilayered place which encompasses a plurality of diverse voices. Vested in the form…
These 7 English & American Authors Made It Okay to Break Grammar Rules
In the era of so-called ’grammar nazis’ it is mitigating to know that many of our ultimate writing role models committed some serious grammar crimes and were even proud about…