A magical realist novel about dependence and independence, myth and reality, power and self-reflexivity. Saleem is born at midnight, 15 August 1947, which is India’s day of independence. Growing up, he discovers his telepathic abilities and finds out that children born in India on this particular day (so-called Midnight’s Children) are gifted with magical powers. […]
A novel about fate and egotism, hatred and bigotry. Cándido and América are a married couple from Mexico, living unregistered in the suburbs of Los Angeles. One day Cándido is hit by the car of Delaney, a liberal middle-class white man, who reimburses him with a twenty-dollar bill. With Cándido being injured and unable to […]
This realistic novel features a group of young people in the1980’s Edinburgh that have to deal with heroin and alcohol addiction, violence and crime. Renton, Mark and Simon usually steal to get the money for their next hit. The story addresses friendship, punk and rebellion – it reveals the causes and outcomes of unemployment, the […]
After surviving the adventures in the Harry Potter novels and triumphing over the evil Lord Voldemort, Harry, Hermione and Ron have grown up and find themselves on platform 9 3/4. Together with Rose, the daughter of Harry’s friends and Albus, Harry’s son they wait for the Hogwarts Express to take the children to Hogwarts for […]
A novel navigating peer-pressure, friendship, love, migration and casual racism. Chevalier retells the story of Shakespeare’s play Othello but set in Washington, D.C. in the 1970s. 11 year old protagonist Osei, the son of a diplomat, starts his first day at a new school, the fourth school in six years. Luckily, he finds a potential […]
A modern tragedy negotiating reality and illusion within the pursuit of the American Dream. Willy Loman is a travelling salesman who lives with his wife, Linda, in New York. Besides being constantly stressed out by his job, driving around and earning barely enough money to make a living, he is also disappointed by his son […]
A fantasy story in rhymes that encourages bravery, the willingness to help others, and the necessity to follow your passions and dreams. “Meet the Flying Doctors – a dragon, knight and girl. Their names are Gadabout the Great, and Zog, and Princess Pearl […]”, who embark on adventures as a team.
A teenage novel about friendship, love and the importance of overcoming loss, grief and suffering. After moving to a boarding school in Alabama, Miles manages to make new friends, discovers the vices of teenage life and falls in love with Alaska – a girl seemingly carrying some emotional trauma. One day Alaska receives a phone […]
A young-adult novel on the loss of innocence, isolation and alienation, morality, mental health, sexual confusion, youth and the painfulness of growing up. The Catcher in the Rye tells a story of teenage frustration and the way 17-year-old Holden perceives the world. Expelled from his private school, he goes to New York City, wandering the […]
A dystopian coming-of-age novel about trust, education and children coming to terms with their special place in the world. Protagonist Kathy tells the story of her childhood attending a private school in England. There, living healthily is the most important rule. She and her friends already feel that they are special in some way but […]
This classic tale is based on a true story featuring the loyal and faithful dog Bobby: Over a hundred years ago in Edinburgh, the little Bobby would return for fourteen years, day by day, to his master’s graveside. His story is retold from the perspective of Tom and Becky, two children who are on a […]
A comedy of manners on the constraints of morality, the importance of lineage, Victorian values and hypocrisies. Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff are two wealthy gentlemen who invent fictional characters as an excuse to leave their respective home – a strategy known as ‘Bunburying’. Jack intends to marry Algernon’s cousin Gwendolen Fairfax. To see her […]
A coming-of-age novel about emotional distance and proximity, friendship and family, responsibility and peer-pressure. 12-year old Marcus lives alone with his mother, who suffers from depression. Will is a 36-year old bachelor, living off his father’s fortune and rejecting any responsibilities. When Will attends a single parents support group, simply in order to pick up […]
A dystopian novel on social hierarchies, the progress of science and technology and psychological manipulation. In the year 2540, society has grown into a caste system that seeks to attain absolute perfection: People are no longer born, but genetically modified and conditioned to behave as perfectly functioning members of society. For most, happiness is controlled […]
Orwell’s classic fable-like allegory to Stalinism. Feeling suppressed and exploited by the farmer, a group of farm animals plot a revolution. But soon after the revolutionary takeover of the farmyard, their leaders become corrupted by power and turn into the ones they once chased away.
A social problem novel on changes and challenges in industrialised England – following ‘the progress of a parish boy’ from London’s impoverished underworld to a fortunate life. Growing up in a workhouse, the orphan Oliver asked for more food and is sold to an undertaker to become his apprentice. Oliver runs away and travels to […]
A song by Saul Williams critically investigating the US American military and inhuman past, present and future. In the style of a preacher, the speaker reflects on the USA’s history and its current state. He complains about a lack of ancient spirituality and the worship of a male god that causes violence and destruction.
A spoken-word poem by Darryll Suliaman Amoako aka ‘Suli Breaks’ about the limitations of institutional schooling and the strictures of formal education. The speaker critically reflects upon the necessity to achieve academic degrees and encourages the audience to reassess their definition of education, as “there is more than one way in this world to be, […]