The Great Silence, by Ted Chiang Read it here in less than 10 minutes. Thinking about why I love it… There aren’t nearly enough stories featuring sentient animals, let alone narrated by them; this story is narrated by an unnamed parrot, who speaks eloquently on behalf of the entire parrot collective (‘We’re a nonhuman speciesContinue reading “A short story I recently read”
Tag Archives: protest writing
A short story I recently read
Menace, by Monika Radojevic Read it here in about 10 minutes. Thinking about why I love it… I love the way the narrator talks, and how they operate within the story. Right from the opening paragraph, the omniscient narrator tells us that something significant and strange has happened, but that no one has realised –Continue reading “A short story I recently read”
My top 10 of 2022
I’ve been busy with work and life in 2022, so haven’t had time to update my blog, but I have still been reading! Here are some of my favourites from my 2022 reading: Deaf Republic, by Ilya Kaminsky What I love about this poetry collection, apart from the language, is the way it plays withContinue reading “My top 10 of 2022”
A protest poetry collection
Deaf Republic, by Ilya Kaminsky A coherent selection of the poems from this collection has been published in The New Yorker. I’m going to talk about the first 3 poems, which you can read in less than 10 minutes. In relation to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the 2022 Winter Olympics, and everything else happening inContinue reading “A protest poetry collection”
A short protest story
‘Lather and Nothing Else’, by Hernando Tellez Read it here in less than 15 minutes. In relation to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the 2022 Winter Olympics, and everything else happening in the world today that shouldn’t be, thinking about how we can use literature to protest… Tellez was a Colombian journalist and author, who livedContinue reading “A short protest story”
A short protest story
‘Saboteur’, by Ha Jin Read it here in about 15 minutes. In relation to the 2022 Winter Olympics, thinking about how we can use literature to protest… Jin was born in China. He was studying his PhD in America when the Tiananmen massacre occurred, and, disillusioned, decided to remain in the US, where he nowContinue reading “A short protest story”
A short protest story
‘Children of the Sea’, by Edwidge Danticat Read it here in about 30 minutes. In relation to the 2022 Winter Olympics, thinking about how we can use literature to protest… Danticat was born in Haiti, to Haitian parents, but later became an American citizen. Her short stories (I haven’t read any of her novels) generallyContinue reading “A short protest story”
A short protest story
‘Condensed Milk’, by Varlam Shalamov (trans. John Glad) Read it here in 6 minutes. In relation to the 2022 Winter Olympics, thinking about how we can use literature to protest… Shalamov spent almost one-quarter of his life in Russian gulags (forced-labour camps), for being critical of, and protesting against, his own government. This story presumablyContinue reading “A short protest story”
A short protest story
‘Zimmer Land’, by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah Read it here in about 35 minutes. In relation to the 2022 Winter Olympics, thinking about how we can use literature to protest… Adjei-Brenyah uses satire and surrealism in a near-futuristic story to, ironically, paint what I think is probably a rather realistic picture of the experience of beingContinue reading “A short protest story”
A short protest story
‘The Intoxicated Years’, by Mariana Enriquez (trans. Megan McDowell) Read it here in about 35 minutes. In relation to the 2022 Winter Olympics, thinking about how we can use literature to protest… Enriquez is from Argentina, and many of the short stories in her two English collections – Things We Lost in the Fire, andContinue reading “A short protest story”
Mina Ma 