Literature

Five million people worldwide were affected by the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, which was triggered by an earthquake with the energy of 23,000 Hiroshima-type atom bombs. Here, we review a thought-provoking new novel about one of the world’s most deadly natural disasters and its aftermath. By Lucy Bryson Just before 8am on December 26th, 2004, an undersea earthquake struck off the Indonesian coast. It triggered a massive tsunami that stretched across the Indian Ocean. Waves up to 30 feet high...

At any one time, a sixth of the population of England aged between 16 and 64 has a mental health problem. Whether it’s family or friends, the chances are that we all know someone who is affected. In an exclusive for The London Economic, the British author Jack Messenger reveals his own debilitating battle with depression and how he sought solace in the most unlikely of literary genres.

Three years ago, N.K. Jemisin became the first black woman to win one of science fiction’s most prestigious prizes, the Hugo for best novel. She won it again last year, for the second in the series The Obelisk Gate, and this year became the first person to win three Best Novel Hugo awards in a row, and the first to win for every book in a series. As she accepted the Hugo award for best novel for The Stone Sky,...

Writing anything at all about The Beatles is rather like writing anything at all about God or Marxism – the subject is so vast, with so many entry points leading to a land filled with hedge rowed mazes each begging exploration, that if one isn’t intimidated by the prospect one has no business writing about it at all. Strictly speaking, the second and final volume of Kenneth Womack’s masterwork of a biography on the life and career of the music...

Ryan Weeks’ Pimple (out now on Amazon UK), takes a satirical swipe at Generation Y’s insatiable hunger for new apps. Set in the edgy world of London’s sex industry, it’s a darkly-witty tale about an Uber-style app for the sex trade called ‘Pimple’, and a cautionary one about the impact of ‘disruptive technology’ on society. The theme may sound raunchy, but this is no sleazy read. The author avoids dwelling on bedroom details or bloody depictions of violence. Instead, he...

Tech and poetry come together for two nights of live improvised performances

The author gave the book to then 28-year-old Albina ‘Lily’ Falle, from Jersey, in January 1887.

By Mary Tracy In 2013 David Graeber told the world what many of us secretly believed but were too afraid to admit out loud: many modern jobs appear to be bullshit because they are, in fact, bullshit. Graeber wrote an article titled “On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs” for the magazine “Strike!”, and the piece went quietly viral. He has now expanded it into a book, bringing together economics, politics, history and personal testimonies to unravel the mystery of why...

When Britain went to war with Germany in 1914, few men stirred the troops like the army chaplain Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy, whose rousing speeches and patriotic poetry boosted morale on the frontline and at home. But by the time World War One had ended, Kennedy had become one of the country’s most outspoken critics of military action. We speak exclusively to the First World War historian and author Linda Parker about his radical transition from jingoist to pacifist. By Linda...