Green Blood
The greenest blood was the kind that never felt the need to prove its colour…
Europe writes itself. Again. And we are thrilled to have you here to read it.
Candide, ou l’Optimisme
The Age of Enlightenment’s French philosopher wrote this story to mock Leibnizian optimism, a popular philosophy at the time claiming that God created a perfect world. By throwing his innocent main character into a world of catastrophes, Voltaire shows how ridiculous it is to ignore real human suffering with blind…
My Pet, the Red Herring
Yet, despite the chaos, Herry became an indispensable part of our lives. He possessed an uncanny knack for appearing precisely when one wished to avoid something uncomfortable…
The Commonwealth of Letters
When viewed through the lens of literature, Europe ceases to be a patchwork of sovereign nations guarded by border checks and passport controls. Instead, it reveals itself as a continuous, interconnected expanse stretching from the icy reaches of Greenland (DK) and Iceland to the vast landscapes of Western Russia, Ukraine…
The Ugly Catling
As they walked out into the chilly rain, snug in Clara’s warm pocket, Cattie smiled her stitched-scarlet smile. She had always known it, of course, but now the rest of the world knew it too: true beauty was never about perfection, but about the joy of being delightfully oneself…
Before I Knew Who I Was
I picked up Oliver’s forgotten graphite pencil from the floor. Holding it against the blank space above my collar, I did not draw eyes to see with or a mouth to speak. Instead, I drew a single, delicate bow tied into the fabric of my cardigan…
Vegan Popcorn for Dinner
The rain had been tapping against the single-glazed window of the flat since five o’clock, a steady, indifferent rhythm that matched the ticking of the radiator. Lukas sat at the small kitchen table, watching the condensation creep up the glass. The flat was far too quiet now. For forty-five years,…
The Crown of Boughs
One grey morning, a silent wolf entered the royal chamber. He came from Calais, carrying a heavy iron axe. The falcon looked from the wolf up to the King. She understood then that the jewels, the lands and the golden perch had never truly belonged to her…
Update the Dummy
Nigel stared blankly at his kitchen counter, nursing a mug of synthetic tea. Having a smart phone, smart TV, smart fridge and smart thermostat had seemed cutting edge two decades ago. Back then, the realisation that he was officially the dumbest object in his own living room felt like a…
A Huge Potential For Doing Nothing
Leonidas watched him with profound detachment. To a man whose father had spent forty-nine years waking up at three in the morning to battle the Aegean Sea for a handful of sardines, the concept of a Tuesday afternoon spent entirely in repose wasn’t laziness; it was a hard-won evolutionary triumph.…
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Muppets on the Muppet Show tonight
The tension is personified by Statler and Waldorf, the two elderly cynics perched permanently in the box seats. They are the ultimate…
Books of Our Continent
From the quiet shelves of forty-four national archives and ancient university libraries to the cosy corners of independent bookstores and modest home…
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