What I learned from my year of reading outside the box Afua Hirsch
almost 6 years in The guardian
As a Booker prize judge, I encountered stories I would never have consciously sought out, and it was wonderful
If I have not quite been myself for the last year, it’s time I explained why. I have spent the past 12 months lost in other people’s imaginations, the breadth and scope of which have been a revelation. This time last year, I became a judge on the 2019 Booker prize, whose winner will be announced on 14 October. I said yes instantly, in delight, knowing I would work out how on earth to fit in so much reading later.
Over the past 10 months I have been sleeping less, answering my phone little, not mentally present in queues or on public transport, and roaming instead the mountains of Kashmir, the villages of the Cotswolds, colonial-era Zambia and superhuman communities in Northern Ireland. I have found myself decrypting Shakespearean time travel and complicated sibling love in Lagos. Continue reading...
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