How to gain more from your reading
There’s more to words than meets the eye. Deepen your appreciation of literature through the art of slow, attentive reading
by Robert DiYanni
Stories and literature
How to plan your novel
Inspiration rarely comes as a mysterious visitation from the muse. Far better to learn the techniques and habits of the craft
by Jason Whittaker
Your life is not a story: why narrative thinking holds you back
Our stories help us make sense of a chaotic world, but they can be harmful and restrictive. There’s a liberating alternative
by Karen Simecek
Ancient Indian texts reveal the liberating power of metaphysics
Indian metaphysics presented a philosophical route to a higher level of existence beyond limits of space and time
by Jessica Frazier
How to nurture a personal library
An escape, a sanctuary, a place of pleasure, a memoir. Take these steps to ensure your library is just what you want it to be
by Freya Howarth
Reading books is not just a pleasure: it helps our minds to heal
Through my own struggles and in teaching bibliotherapy to students, I know that books can help to heal minds and hearts
by Peter Leyland
The plague novel you need to read is by Bachmann, not Camus
In Ingeborg Bachmann’s Malina, the plague isn’t a biological virus, it doesn’t cause lockdowns, but it is killing us
by Lyndsey Stonebridge
How to heal through life writing
Learning to write about trauma helps you to process the painful experience, and gives you the life skills to overcome it
by Uddipana Goswami
How to create compelling characters
It’s not only writer’s intuition. Use personality psychology to create just the right blend of surprise and believability
by Kira-Anne Pelican
What does switching from paper to screens mean for how we read?
It’s well established that we absorb less well when reading on screen. But why? And can we do something to improve it?
by Lili Yu, Sixin Liao, Jan-Louis Kruger & Erik D Reichle
How conspiracy theories bypass people’s rationality
Prior research has focused on the negative reasons people are drawn to conspiracies, but there’s another side to the story
by Jan-Willem van Prooijen
How to deconstruct the world
Don’t believe everything you hear, read and watch. To puncture received ideas about culture, start thinking like Jacques Derrida
by Peter Salmon
Selfish, grumpy and unkind? That’s my kind of woman
Misanthropic female novelists and their characters make me hopeful for a future in which we shrug off feminine perfection
by Ellena Savage
This is not the end. Apocalyptic comfort from ancient Iran
Faced with the collapse of their empire, Zoroastrians sought comfort in the apocalyptic – and their literature flourished
by Domenico Agostini & Samuel Thrope
How to tell a better story
Personal stories have the power to connect, entertain, persuade. Use a pro storyteller’s tips to pick and prepare a great one
by Micaela Blei
The Devil you don’t know: the Satan of the 19th century
Satan wasn’t always a wicked, horned figure. The Romantics imagined the Devil as a resourceful and well-spoken gentleman
by Erik Butler