My TEDx talk: The power of literature

Why writing is anything but self-indulgent.

On October 3, I gave a talk for TEDxGreekStWomen’s Connection is Culture event in London. I was entirely unprepared for this to be posted mere days after submission, but it is indeed up:

Books make a difference.

This talk is dedicated to all of you. If you’ve ever wondered if it’s self-indulgent or silly to hide away and write a book, I hope you feel differently after watching this. My goal when I received the invitation to speak was to share a message to inspire those whose confidence was wobbling as they wrote.

I only had 15 minutes to get this message across, but after months of writing, revising, and memorizing, I very much hope you believe in the benefit of books after watching.

I’d love to hear your thoughts — I’ll be honest, the vulnerability hangover was more intense than expected after I got the message that this was live. I took the weekend to slowly share with close friends and family, but now we’re going wide.

If this talk helps or inspires you, please do share it with anyone who needs a boost.

Thank you for being a part of this beautiful space. Book nerds forever!

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Postscript:

I didn’t have to worry about slides for this talk, but I’m a little bit sad about this, because they could have featured the AI-generated 80s romance novel covers my friend Andy made from my talk descriptions. Of course, featuring Fabio look-alikes:

The cover vibe

My personal favorite is the bottom right one, which features both a pirate hat and a deformed bird with an extra wing. The woman in that image has exactly the swoon I recall from the book I read as a kid. My goodness, we have come a long way, haven’t we?