Week 22: Publication week!
#TalkingAboutARevolution hitting your shelves... and reclaiming the narrative :D
We’re here, folks! Talking About A Revolution, the coda to my twenties, is finally out. What a journey.
It’s been interesting to see the press: I obviously knew folks would want to talk about the events of 2017, and I do address them to some extent in the collection, but wow. It really takes a lot to reorient the conversation, doesn’t it? I’m doing my best through, reclaiming the narrative in whatever way I can, having the conversation on my own terms… it’s a way for me to have fun with it. Enjoy the process of walking back into the fire.
I will link to some of the interviews and things below, and take this moment to remind you of the virtual launches I’ll be participating in over the next few weeks. The first one is tomorrow, with Sisonke Msimang and Sunili Govinnage (buy tickets here). If you click here, you will be taken to a page on my website with all the links for the various events.
Fun bits of press:
To be honest, I swing wildly between being a hopeful, optimistic to a real dark cynic. But I probably wouldn’t do what I do if I didn’t think a better version of the world was possible.
So I almost take an engineer’s approach to that. I’m like, all right, what do we have to do? It’s not about being optimistic or pessimistic. It’s about assessing the situation, finding out what the challenges and obstacles and systemic roots are. And then thinking about how we go about doing it differently. Obviously there’s a really emotional aspect, but also there’s a part of me that is able to step slightly back and assess it as if it’s an engineering problem. That gives me some relief, the process of thinking about things as systems.
“The silver lining for me is, like, if/when it ever happens again, I will have been through it. If the worst thing that can ever happen has already happened at the age of 25, then you know you’re not so afraid any more.”
It would be the ultimate irony if being hounded out of Australia led to international success that she might not otherwise have had. Abdel-Magied has no regrets or self-pity about the way her life is panning out.
“Yes, I had a horrific experience, but I also had a lot of things go my way and I’m grateful for that. The experiences that I’ve had have earned me a wisdom and a clarity that would have taken me a long time to learn any other way.”
I’m really interested in pushing people to think about the hidden dynamics underlying the issues of the day. As an engineer, I’m all about going back to first principles, so that is partly what I’m encouraging people to do: go back to first principles, to the bare bones of the values we want to base our society on, and then build up from there. But by including my earliest essays as well, I hope I’m also demonstrating growth, and the humility required alongside that. I hope readers can see that the transformation and evolution I speak of applies to me, my thinking and my work as much as anyone else. We’re on this journey together.
…and finally, watch my interview with ABC Breakfast this morning.
What else is happening? There was my recent column on Ncuti Gatwa as Doctor Who, or my lament that news only becomes ‘news’ when the New York Times reports it: We've known of Haiti’s ‘lost billions’ before NYT’s report. There was also the Tiktok I recorded on the opening day of the new Elizabeth (tube) line!
Right. That’s all from me for now, I hope you’re enjoying getting into the book if you’ve started reading (or listening) to it, and do let me know your thoughts as you go along, either in the comments below or via email. I cannot wait to hear what y’all think!
Best,
Yassmin