Welcome to The Hopeful Reader Podcast! In this introductory episode Eve and Finola discuss how works of fiction can act as a source of creative moral and political vision - a portal to another world. The Hopeful Reader views fiction as a way to create and inhabit alternative world imaginaries from within the confines of normativity. This episode delves into the importance of imagination as well as thinking about fiction as a method of ‘slow refusal’.  

References: 

Anderson, B. (2006) ‘Becoming and being hopeful: towards a theory of affect’ Society and Space. 24(5)

Berlant, L. (2011) Cruel Optimism. North Carolina: Duke University Press. 

Berlant, L. (2021) On the Inconvenience of Other People. North Carolina: Duke University Press.

Benjamin, R. (2024) Imagination: A manifesto. New York: WW Norton & Co. 

Bown, A. (2022) Dream Lovers: The Gamification of Relationships. London: Pluto Press.

Timperley, C. (2024) ‘Be Here Now: Feminist futures as present’ Feminist Review. 136(1). 

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