I spend much of my time in university classrooms. Sometimes I help people become better writers, which has made me a better writer. We often read novels together, and sometimes we read poetry and watch films. We talk about how important, unimportant, relevant, interesting, funny, or sad they are. We also talk about the direction the world is going, which is an uncertain direction, but it’s also exciting to think about how quickly our global culture is changing. I hope our work helps them think about the world more critically, but also more kindly.

I’m a medievalist, which means I try to understand how people experienced the world a long time ago, often with the same uncertainties and anxieties we experience today. I spend most of my time studying the languages and texts of medieval Germany, Britain, and Iceland. I think the Icelandic sagas to be among the more glorious and beautiful prose ever written.