Books, writers and characters that illuminate the complicated business of being human.
Sometimes a book gives us a way of seeing something we haven’t been able to see for ourselves.
A character can make us feel less strange.
A sentence can stay with us for years.
An old essay can suddenly speak to something happening in our lives now.
Here you’ll find explorations of literature, writers, characters and books — and the questions they leave us with.
EXPLORE THE LITERATURE
WHY WE TURN TO ART AND LITERATURE TO FEEL ALIVE
An exploration of why we reach for books, paintings, music, and poetry when life becomes too difficult to interpret – and why art can sometimes make us feel less alone.
LITERARY OUTCASTS: CHARACTERS WHO FOUND STRENGTH IN THE SHADOWS
Characters who find themselves on the margins — and what their stories can tell us about belonging, isolation and resilience.
VIRGINIA WOOLF’S ‘A ROOM OF ONE’S OWN’ – THE SYMBOLIC SPACE FOR CREATIVE FREEDOMÂ
What Virginia Woolf’s argument for a room of one’s own can tell us about solitude, creative freedom and the conditions we need to make something of our own.
A SHAKESPEAREAN UNDERSTANDING OF MENTAL HEALTH
What Shakespeare’s characters can reveal about the complicated ways we experience fear, grief, ambition and despair.
JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL
A small book about limits, freedom and the possibility of becoming more than we believe ourselves to be.