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!
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:
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?
Fantastic!
Thanks for putting the work in behind the scenes to get this talk prepared, Caroline, it's no easy feat! You went in a totally different direction than I was expecting, but it was thought-provoking and I loved it.
The changes you describe taking place in the romance genre reminded me of a trend which occurred in wider society (at least, in the universe of business buzzwords). We were taught to abandon the formerly sacrosanct Golden Rule (treat others how YOU like to be treated) in favor of the more considerate Platinum Rule (treat others how THEY like to be treated).
In one breath, the entire service industry realized its thousand year-old rule was self-centered.