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 …
Remaking the World: Creativity, Writing and Activism
This evening I fly to Singapore and then to Taiwan. I’m looking forward to brushing off my rusty Chinese. But after the Thingyan festival in Myanmar is over, I’m going to be back in Yangon to continue my writing residency at the Parami Institute of …
Wind and Bones – New Website
The last few weeks have been busy with the Wind&Bones project that I co-run. We’re coming to the end of our current course as writers in residence at the Parami Institute in Yangon (the title is ‘Writing, Myth and Tradition’), and we’re also planning our …
Shrinking the Empire
As a job, it has been long overdue…. For years now, I have run multiple websites, a small online empire that over the years has mushroomed until it has reached unmanageable proportions. So after some server problems last week, I decided it was time to …
Interview with Faisal Oddang for the British Council
Here in Yangon, our creative writing classes are in full swing, and it’s a lot of fun; but I’m also aware that back in the UK things are gearing up for the London Book Fair, and I’m also disappointed that I can’t be in two …
Interview in Manusia Magazine
One of the biggest delights of being in Bali at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival in 2018 was talking to Rudolf Gilmore Perez from Manusia Magazine. It was an enormously stimulating interview, and it’s great to see it now online. The interview ranges pretty …
A Practical Guide to Happiness Audiobook
I’m very pleased to have just signed a contract on the audio rights for my little guide to philosophies of happiness, A Practical Guide to Happiness : Think Deeply and Flourish, published by Icon Books. The book is a slightly sceptical survey of philosophies from Thomas …
“Hello, Stranger” to be published by Granta
I’m very pleased to announce that Granta have acquired my forthcoming non-fiction book, Hello, Stranger, an exploration of how welcoming strangers into our lives and worlds may make the world a better, richer place. The book is a response to two (real or imagined) crises: …
Leadership and Deforestation-as-metaphor: Consulting for Mote Oo
Over the next few months, I’m going to be working on co-developing a module on ethical leadership for Mote Oo Education. I’ll be working alongside Dr. Hannah Stevens, under the banner of our Wind&Bones project. Our aim is to produce a practical, useful set of textbooks and …
