The Marginalian

Virginia Woolf on Love

By Contacts We Are Saved: The Forgotten Visionary Jane Ellen Harrison on Change, the Meaning of Faith, and the Courage of Heresy

On Looking: Poet Lia Purpura on the Art of Noticing

Embodiment and the (Re)invention of Emoji, from the Aztecs to Humboldt and Darwin to AI

A Heron, a Red Leaf, and a Hole in a Blue Star: Poet Jane Kenyon on the Art of Letting Go

Undersound: The Secret Lives of Ponds and the Mysterious Musicality of the World

Decoding the Mystery of Intuition: Pioneering Philosopher of AI Margaret Boden on the Three Elements of Creativity

Orcas and the Price of Consciousness: Lessons in Love and Loss from Earth’s Most Successful and Creative Predator

Rewilding the Human Spirit in the Age of Moral Colonialism: Brian Eno on Carnival as a Model for Saving Culture

Dawn: A Watercolor Ode to the Primeval Conversation Between Our Living Planet and Its Dying Star

Wonder, Play, and How to Be More Alive

Things Become Other Things: Walking, Forgiveness, and Belonging in the Mountains of Japan

Blink Twice to Quell a Quasar: Carl Sagan on Superstition

How to Be a Happier Creature

The Paradox of Knowing Who You Are and What You Want: Cristina Campo on Fairy Tales, Time, and the Meaning of Maturity

Kiss: Ellen Bass’s Stunning Ode to the Courage of Tenderness as an Antidote to Helplessness

HOLD ON LET GO: Urns for Living and the Art of Trusting Time

A Plasticity of Being: What a Rare Bird of Prey Reveals about the Deepest Meaning of Intelligence

Doris Lessing on How to Read a Book and How to Read the World

The Canyon and the Meaning of Life

Is It Not Wonderful to Be Alive: Edward Lear’s Parrots

Why Bats Shouldn’t Exist: The Limits of Knowledge, the Pitfalls of Prediction, and the Triumph of the Possible Over the Probable

Uncoding Creativity in the Age of AI: What Makes a Great Poem, What Makes a Great Storyteller, and What Makes Us Human