How many of us, “congenial spirits” are left out there, as Woolf writes in The Voyage Out (1915), “feel[ing] intensely the delights of shutting oneself up in a little world of one’s own, with pictures and music and everything beautiful.” Continue reading “Ravens, Cream, solitude, sublimity”: Virginia Woolf on Literature & Inner Peace
As I continued to read the emails Alice and Eileen exchange throughout the novel, I realized: as citizens of the world, we had more in common than I initially thought. Continue reading Civilizational Collapse, Taylor Swift(s) of the World, and the Beauty of Connection
European poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) pursued a life of meaning through his writing. He studied with the greatest minds of the 20th century, from Rodin to Lou Andreas-Salomé, not only to learn how to write better, but to learn how to think, feel, and live like an artist. Continue reading On Writing Better | Rainer Maria Rilke
To say the least, it was painful to write this post. I didn’t quite know what to say on finding the good in goodbye. And I still don’t. Continue reading On Finding the Good in Goodbye | Mary Oliver
Gautier adored cats so much that he penned a book entitled ‘Ménagerie intime’ (1869) where he meditated on the cats he’d owned –excuse me, that owned him– through his life. Continue reading Théophile Gautier on Cats
To Longfellow, Fall means change, wisdom, an end and a beginning. A contradiction. Fall, he suggests, is a poignant reminder of our mortality. Continue reading Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on Autumn
“When we choose to love we choose to move against fear-against alienation and separation. The choice to love is a choice to connect-to find ourselves in the other.” Continue reading bell hooks on Love
As a war narrative enveloped in magic, love, and hope, The Baghdad Clock adds depth to the burgeoning genre of postcolonial Iraqi novels. Continue reading The Real and the Imaginary: The Baghdad Clock by Shahad Al Rawi
meditations on home, belonging & all things literary 
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