Literary festivals could “risk waning interest” and some may no longer remain viable if they remain inwardly focused and don’t attract audiences from marginalised communities, especially in the wake of the cost of living crisis, organisers have said.
Do you understand how lucky you are to be learning this kind of vital information directly from me, an actual galaxy? You’d probably be just as nonplussed if it were that almost-dwarf Larry writing this, though I guarantee you wouldn’t find Larry’s explanations nearly as entertaining. My telling you this story—my story—is a gift. It’s like if you learned about…oh, what’s something you humans admire? It’s like Beyoncé taking time out of her “busy” schedule to personally give you singing lessons. Even that falls short, though—she’s not supervising a hundred billion stars.
What if all the work of improving a romantic partner could be outsourced? Female readers, many of whom may feel that they carry the emotional burden in their relationships with men, will find that Lauren Forsythe’s debut novel, “The Fixer Upper” hits pretty close to home. Billed as a “sassy feminist rom-com,” the book is a lot of fun, full of cheeky one-liners and a cast of characters both sharp and heartwarming.
In Serpell’s new novel The Furrows, time mimics grief – it slurs, skips, loops and folds in on itself.
Remember the “why” game? Most children discover it during their intensive questioning phase. They ask “why is something as it is?” You answer only to be instantly asked “why?” again. That’s basically it. After a few rounds it has veered into an existential nightmare for you, while the child has long-since stopped listening and is there only to ride the sadistic thrill at your facial rictus as you plumb the void for meaning.
To maximise your chances of survival, come armed with something such as The Shortest History of the World by David Baker, a book that is essentially one massive causal chain that starts with the entire universe compressed into a fraction of an atom and ends 10ˆ40 years (10 duodecillion years) from today with futures ranging from the possible to the preposterous.