Barcelona has a privileged position. Wedged between the sea and the mountains, it is an ideal base for walks and hikes in nature. Here are some of my favourite walks in and around this dynamic city. Collserola National Park The sprawling, 8,000 hectare Parc de Collserola is the largest metropolitan park in the world. It's [...]
I came across Nnedi Okorafor a few months ago when I was browsing TED Talks. In a talk at the TEDGlobal Conference in August 2017, she discussed Afrofuturism and read out some excerpts from her Binti novella trilogy and from Lagoon. In the talk, she said: "Science fiction is one of the greatest and most [...]
I have a lot of time for Al Gore. He may be best known nowadays for his climate change activism, but it is his vast political experience that shines through in his book, The Assault on Reason. His years of experience in Congress and later as vice president during the Clinton administration have given him [...]
The clocks have gone forward and the March equinox has passed, apparently heralding the start of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. That and a recent post on the wonderful blog, The Snow Melts Somewhere, have got me thinking about the changing seasons. I've been fortunate enough to spend a lot of the past 18 months [...]
It didn't take long to fall in love with Florianópolis. On the Uber ride to my B&B, passing lush green landscapes before the blue sea came into view, I knew I was going to have a good time there. Florianópolis is in the southern part of Brazil and is known for its stunning beaches. Most [...]
I came across S. A. Chakraborty's book The City of Brass after seeing a couple of reviews on it from other bloggers in the blogosphere. It had been a while since I'd read a fantasy novel, so I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly Chakraborty transported me to the new worlds she'd created. The story begins [...]
Florianópolis is located in the south of Brazil. It has become an increasingly popular destination for tourists in recent years, both Brazilian and international. It also has a strong student population. Watersports, health and fitness are popular amongst the locals and the tourists, and in this context you can find an incredible range of health [...]
I'm more vegetarian than pescatarian these days, but I still occasionally eat fish. When we saw that a new "Fish & Chips" restaurant had opened up near us in Eixample, we figured we'd check it out. It's funny how a traditional British staple that consists of copious amounts of grease, chips and fish can translate into [...]
Patrice Lumumba was a Congolese independence leader and the first elected Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Considered a dangerous threat to colonial and international interests, he was assassinated in 1961. The collection Patrice Lumumba: May Our People Triumph contains some of his speeches, interviews and letters. The second half is devoted [...]
One of Toni Morrison's best known novels, Beloved is an immensely moving account of loss, longing, memory and identity. Set against the backdrop of post-Civil War America, the story centres on Sephe, who has escaped from a life of slavery, and her family. It tells of the legacy of slavery and the physical and psychological [...]
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