As the air acquires the distinct autumn chill, this month’s selection will cut close to the heart.  We recommend that you snuggle up under a blanket with a pot of tea …

You may cry a little or a lot, reflecting on how far we have come and how much further there is to go. You may be inspired to start painting, drawing or publishing again, to use what freedom you have to cherish creativity. Regardless of how you find the prose or the narrative of these tales – your heart will be stirred, and your mind will be challenged. It is likely that you will never take fiction, creative space and any freedoms that you have for granted again. 

Hannah Kent Burial Rights 

In our region there has been a lot of focus on law, mercy and the death penalty.  In this context it was heart breaking to read Burial Rights: Hannah Kent’s telling of Agnes Magnusdottir’s journey to her death.  Iceland’s last use of the death penalty.

The layers of this historical fiction are captivating. It’s a perfect autumn read, as heat and cold clash and storms are inevitable. Kent paints a vivid picture of Iceland’s landscape and moody weather; the challenge of poverty at the time; and the mental and emotional turmoil experienced by a woman unjustly condemned to death.

Historical fiction and crime thriller combined, it occassionaly stumbles however doesn’t fail to grab your heart.  The story contemplates the fruitlessness of this age old practice of punishing crime with death.

While much of the world stands for mercy this book reiterates, in part, why we need to continue to stand for all of humanity.

Azar Nafisi The Republic of Imagination 

The Republic of the Imagination is like a passionate conversation with an old friend.  Momentum builds the more that you read and the urgency of Nafisi’s message rings louder and louder: Cherish creative freedom; don’t allow lethargy and complacency to dilute the power or importance of the arts; democracy relies on freedom of expression, critique and space to create, debate and challenge.

The timing of reading this book coincided with the news of the passing of Sabeen Mahmud. This was a shock to many, and entirely predicable to others.  When she bravely opened The Second Floor (T2F) in 2007 her vision was a simple one and one that may have cost her her life.  The vision was simply for a creative space, for Pakistani artists, creatives and entrepreneurs to meet.  In her early 30s she saw the gap and responded. She believed that You can’t create – you can’t solve any problem if you’re not collaborating and working together…. Fear is just a line in your head. You can choose what side of that line you want to be on.  Sabeen Mahmud exemplified the bold and fear less commitment to creativity, fiction and debate that is both celebrated and clung to by Nafisi.  

For those in a position of freedom and peace, and those who are not, The Republic of the Imagination will stir you to use your voice and create. 

Copyright © 2015 Jen and Willa.