Recently, I have read the coming-of-age novel Hard Land by Benedict Wells. The book was quite predictable, but it moved me all the same. It reminded me of my own childhood, of how I used…

Since I suffered a severe fever last week, I had all the time to do whatever I wanted – that is, when I was not confined to bed. And with little better to do, I…

Last weekend, I stumbled upon a beautiful poem by W.H. Auden, called As I walked out one evening. I was watching Richard Linklater’s mesmerizing Before Trilogy, which depicts the relationship between two people, Jesse and…

Whenever I am struck by melancholy and I am in dire need of some distraction, I usually turn to art for consolation. It reminds me of Bertrand Russell’s Conquest of Happiness, in which he states…

At the time of writing, there are countless armed conflicts around the globe, such as the Syrian civil war, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the violent power struggle in Sudan. Despite the horrors of the…

Sometimes you just read something that immediately hits you, something so enchanting in its lush and swirling poetry, so beguiling in its sonorous and colourful language, that it can make you forget the world around…