English Literature is a compulsory subject for students across the UK up until the age of sixteen, thus it is not unreasonable to assume that what is taken from these lessons will inform these students’ future understanding of the world. The whitewashing of the UK education system, and specifically the secondary school syllabuses, is therefore […]Read More
Though literature can provoke and offend, it is likewise capable of acting as a medium of inspiration and empowerment. Among the four books listed below are feminist non-fiction texts focusing on women’s sexuality and menstruation, encouraging female empowerment through education. Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski, Ph.D. Centred around women’s sexuality, Dr. Emily Nagoski’s […]Read More
Activist reading lists have become a staple of the Black Lives Matter movement. Sasha Mills explores the importance of literature in anti-racism, and how it can be used as a starting tool in re-education. Read More
There is exciting news in the book community, as Kazuo Ishiguro announces his new novel, Klara and the Sun.Read More
Stacey Dooley's career has spanned over a decade and during that time, she has met dozens of incredibly inspiring women around the world. On The Frontline With The Women Who Fight Back tells some of those stories.Read More
The best way to learn someone’s secret is to have them write a story. “So it really happened?” one reviewer demanded. “The professor made her do. . .that in exchange for raising her boyfriend’s grade?” The author—still under a mandate of silence—shrugged. “Is it based on your life?” someone else slyly asked. Nostrils flared, eyes […]Read More
Title: Love, Nina: Despatches from Family Life Author: Nina Stibbe What I think so far: In 1982, Nina Stibbe moved from Leicester to London to become nanny to Mary-Kay Wilmers’s children. Working (somewhat informally, it has to be said) for the editor of the London Review of Books clearly gave this book’s twenty year old […]Read More
Belated happy new year to you all! I hope you’ve got plenty of books ready to read in 2019 – I know I have. And I hope that at least some of these books are being read for pleasure – because mine are not. When I opted to do English literature at Glasgow Uni all […]Read More
“Heathcliff// it’s me Cathy, I’ve come home // I’m so // cold, won’t you let me in your // window”. We all know the lyrics to the Kate Bush song, the mournful masterpiece taking its name and inspiration from a masterpiece of literature, Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. I recently read the book for the first time, prompted […]Read More
Title: The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman Author: Laurence Sterne What Do I Think Of It?: What do you get when you cross Jonathan Swift with Daniel Defoe and throw in a splash of Carrollesque surrealism? You get Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne, clergyman-turned-author. This is a riotous, 18th-century mock-autobiography of the fictional wag Tristram Shandy, who […]Read More
Around this time last year, I was writing a Christmas list and looking for something a bit more imaginative to put on it (something that gets harder with each year). I decided I would ask for a subscription to a renowned literary journal. As you do. Granta is a long standing and widely read literary […]Read More
The winner of this year’s Nobel Literature Prize is the Japanese-born British author, Kazuo Ishiguro. Already a highly acclaimed author, Ishiguro was described by the Swedish Body as an author “who, in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world”. However, to many it seems […]Read More
Maya Angelou: legendary feminist author, poet and spokeswoman against racism. Beyoncé Knowles-Carter: the most influential singer-songwriter of the modern day and advocate of black and women’s rights. It is without doubt that these two women are politically and artistically iconic, and this makes Beyoncé’s music the perfect complement to Angelou’s writing. I Know Why the […]Read More
Since her first major dramatic success (Colder Than Here, which premiered at the Soho Court Theatre in 2005), Laura Wade has gone from strength to strength in the world of theatre and film. If you aren’t already a fan of her introspective and dynamic work, here are half a dozen reasons why you should be… […]Read More
Set in the Victorian age of new scientific discovery and experimentation, H. G. Wells’ novel is introspective and thought-provoking. It was received in a similar way to Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – the two books were published about a decade apart – and deals with much the same themes: how far new scientific progression […]Read More
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