Literature

Performative Males Have Cheapened Reading
Performative Males Have Cheapened Reading
What happens when reading stops being something we do and becomes something we perform? The internet turned reading into an aesthetic: curated shelves, numbered goals, and novels chosen for how... Read more...
Literary Women Have Graduated From Suicidal to Unhinged
Literary Women Have Graduated From Suicidal to Unhinged
words by Chloe Milne   What does it mean for a woman to be ‘weird’? ‘Weird girl lit’, TikTok’s latest micro-trend and literary sub-genre, has attempted to answer this question,... Read more...
Haunted Times or The Revival of the Gothic
Haunted Times or The Revival of the Gothic
We live in chaotic times in which many of the structures we once believed to be permanent, in the West at least, such as democracy, social stability, the welfare system,... Read more...
What’s in a name, if no one remembers?
What’s in a name, if no one remembers?
Today, when someone says they like to read, the first assumption is that they mean novels. Even though non-fiction, poetry, journalism, memoirs, and even plays are still widely read, the... Read more...
Toni Morrison’s Praise of Writer’s Block
Toni Morrison’s Praise of Writer’s Block
words by Millie Harris   I keep a running list of habits I blame for my writer’s block: lack of sleep, too much coffee, too little coffee, the internet, my... Read more...
Why I have a tattoo of James Joyce
Why I have a tattoo of James Joyce
I love Joyce because he has forced me to face everything with the tenderness that one must employ in a world such as this. His words, though rough and sometimes... Read more...
Why Do We Walk Away From Suffering?
Why Do We Walk Away From Suffering?
You can leave the theatre, but the suffering will still continue. Sarah Kane’s Blasted (1995) asks what turning away really costs us.   Read more...
Denial is a river in Egypt, “Your husband’s a homo”
Denial is a river in Egypt, “Your husband’s a homo”
Tony Kushner’s Angels in America is vast, feverish, and human — a play where politics, theology, desire, and illness collide. Returning to it again and again, I’m struck less by... Read more...
A Nation Emerging as Rhythm: Edward Kamau Brathwaite’s search for Caribbean poetry
A Nation Emerging as Rhythm: Edward Kamau Brathwaite’s search for Caribbean poetry
Brathwaite’s whole text is not really a prescription on how to write if you are Caribbean; it is a celebration of the different references and the rich culture that exists... Read more...
Am I a writer?
words by Chloe Milne   Every time I meet new people, I dread that inevitable first question: “So, what do you do?” (I wish it was replaced with “Can I get you another drink?”, but that only happens in my dreams). I always pause awkwardly, as if the subject of my job is some kind of dark secret. I often doubt that people I’ve just met even care what I do for a living when they ask. It’s just the polite thing to ask, isn’t it? A way for us to... Read more...
Decolonise Your Bookshelf: Long Live the Legacy of Machado de Assis
Decolonise Your Bookshelf: Long Live the Legacy of Machado de Assis
words by Cheryl S. Ezekiel A towering figure in Brazilian literature and an essential voice in rethinking the global literary canon, Machado de Assis stands by his imperative contribution to... Read more...