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 it up online, and you will see Nay Pyi Taw referred to as a ‘ghost …
Projects in Bulgaria
Last week, I was in Plovdiv, Bulgaria for the EmpathEAST 2019 forum for empathy-driven social change. Run by the wonderful Bulgarian organisation Ideas Factory / Фабрика за Идеи, I was there with my Wind&Bones collaborator, Hannah Stevens, talking about storytelling and social change, and running …
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 relationship with our neighbours whilst living in Bahan township, Yangon, and a very suspicious-looking bowl …
Workshops with Refugee Trauma Initiative
Next week, along with my Wind&Bones collaborator Dr. Hannah Stevens, I’ll be running a creative writing workshop in conjunction with the brilliant Refugee Trauma Initiative here in Thessaloniki. RTI work to address trauma, to offer psychological support, and to offer training to refugees, asylum seekers …
Finding Our Sea-Legs: 10th Anniversary Edition
Can it be a decade since the publication of my philosophy book, Finding Our Sea-Legs: Ethics Experience and the Ocean of Stories? The book first came out in 2009 from Kingston University Press. Over the past decade, the book has continued to find its way out …
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 Thessaloniki to Sofia, and onwards to Vidin on the Danube. In Vidin, I’ve been checking …
Society of Authors Grant
For the last few months, I’ve been based in Thessaloniki, where I’ve been working on my book for Granta, Hello Stranger: stories of connection in a divided world. It’s been a fruitful few months of writing, connecting and research. I’m just about to head to …
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 the world. And they have some really interesting content. The happiness course explores happiness from …
A Practical Guide to Happiness in Chinese
The lovely people at Icon Books have just been in touch to say that my book A Practical Guide to Happiness: Think Deeply and Flourish is coming out in Chinese translation. It will be published some time in 2020 (I think) by the Beijing World …
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 blog called thinkBuddha. I saw the blog as a way of thinking out loud about …
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 them that the main reason — other than the important matter of being able to …
Will Buckingham’s Wayward Things….
Starting next month, I’m going to be trying an experiment: I’m launching a newsletter. This is part of my current rethink about how I spend time writing online. Over the past few years, I’ve blogged less and less, and I’ve found that social media channels …
Storytelling and Bridges in Myanmar
Here in Myanmar, the rains have begun, and in a few weeks’ time, the rainy season will be in full swing. Some time in June, I’ll be heading off to Greece to escape the worst of the rainy season and to do some research work …
Guest Lecture at National Dong Hwa University
Whilst in Taiwan later in April, I’ll be at National Dong Hwa University (國立東華大學) in Hualien, where Hannah Stevens and I will be giving a talk about writing, activism and social justice, and discussing our Wind&Bones project. For both of us, it will be our …
