Dark Angels Note 68

Welcome back to our weekly Dark Angels Note.

This week we hear from philosophy guru and writer, Johnny Lyons. You can check out his latest book, Isaiah Berlin and his Philosophical Contemporaries (Palgrave Macmillan) published in July this year.

1. Tell us about something you’re working on right now.

I am becoming increasingly interested in how we are going to respond to the various and alarming global crises we face, especially climate change and the staggering decline of biodiversity. On one level, it’s an overwhelmingly depressing subject. But I also think it offers an exhilarating opportunity to imagine how we might transform how we relate to Nature and what we might do to make the world a better place for us and other species. This forms part of my more general effort to think and write about the world in a more real and useful way, or at least more real and useful that I have thought and written about it up to now.

2. Can you recommend something for us to read?

I’m grown reluctant to recommend books but, if pressed, I think it’s hard to beat almost any short story by Chekhov. He never lectures and yet he teaches us so much.

3. What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever read or received?

“I write when I’m inspired, and I see to it that I’m inspired at nine o’clock every morning.”
Peter De Vries

4. Share one thing you do when you get stuck.

Listen to ‘Blue In Green’ by the Miles Davis Quintet (from the album Kind of Blue)

5. What’s your desert island book and why?

Plato’s Collected Dialogues. They combine profundity of thought and literary brilliance in a way that I find endlessly irresistible.

Thank you, Johnny. Keep us in the loop with your new writing projects.

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Dark Angels Online Advanced Course

Good news! Jamie Jauncey and Richard Pelletier are reprising their wondrously pan-continental Advanced Online Writing Course this Autumn. Join them for a guided journey into language and storytelling. Enjoy a mix of live online sessions, fast-paced writing exercises with time built-in to work on a personal piece of writing.

Two-hour sessions, twice a week, for one month.
Dates: each Monday and Thursday, November 8 — December 2
Time: UK 5.30–7.30 PM; US E Coast 12.30–2.30 PM; US W Coast 9.30–11.30 AM
Fee: £795 / E895 / $1095

October Starter Day

On 20th October at London’s October Gallery, John and Neil plan to host an in-person day of writing. This course is designed as a first step into the world of Dark Angels. But if you’ve worked with us before and just need a day of face-to-face wordy creativity, we’re happy to give returning angels a 25% discount. We also have one 50% discount spot for a scholar — that’s someone new to writing or can’t afford the full fee. Spread the word.

Timings: 09:30–16:30
Fee: £475

Interested in either of these courses or a scholarship place? Contact Susanne.

Dark Angels Gatherings

We restarted our Tuesday night gatherings. Same time as before (7.00–8.00pm in the UK), but with a new Zoom link. If you fancy an hour of connection and reflection in the company of other Dark Angels, you’d be very welcome; bring a friend too.

Be well, keep reading, keep writing and know that we’re always here..

From everyone at Dark Angels

Originally published at Dark Angels.