COVID–19: No Time For Politics?
Last November, I moved to Sofia in Bulgaria for work. For the first few months, I made friends and connections, started work on some fun new projects, and set about…
Writers’ and Activists’ Café in Sofia
This week, with Wind&Bones, I embarked upon a new venture here in Sofia: a weekly café for writers and activists, which we’re running in collaboration with Greenpeace, Bulgaria. Our first…
To Express or to Explore? The Art of Nonfiction
Some months ago — in that strange, hushed lull after finishing the manuscript of one book, and starting to think about another — I sat down to write. I fired…
Hospitality, Islam and How to Resist Hatred: a piece in Heated Magazine
At the age of eighteen, I travelled to Pakistan, where I spent nine months, teaching in a school and then travelling the country alone. And my most enduring memory of…
The Exorcism of Nay Pyi Taw on BBC Travel
Myanmar’s new capital city of Nay Pyi Taw is a strange, half-deserted place. A city of wide spaces occupied by few people, and of vast highways without any traffic. Look…
In the Southeast Asia Globe: Witchcraft, gentrifiction and the trouble with foreigners
I’m very happy to have a piece out in the Southeast Asia Globe on witchcraft, gentrification and problem with foreigners in Yangon, Maymar. The piece is about our sometimes troubled…
On the Art of Staring into Space
I love train journeys. I love them for the opportunity they give for life to establish a different rhythm. Over the last few days, I’ve been taking slow trains from…
The Philosophy of Happiness on Highbrow
My new course on the philosophy of happiness has just been published on Highbrow. I really like Highbrow and their ethos. They deliver daily bite-sized lessons to email inboxes around…
Reclaiming the Pleasure of Writing Online
Almost fifteen years ago now, I started up my first blog. At the time, I was grappling with questions of Buddhist thought and practice, and so I set up a…
Communing with Wizards in Myanmar
When I came back to Myanmar seven months ago, I decided to dedicate myself to improving my language skills. When friends asked me why I wanted to improve my Burmese, I told…
