Three years of Manufacturing Serendipity - Part II
Welcome to issue seventy two of Manufacturing Serendipity friends!
I’ve now been sending out this newsletter for three years, and to mark the occasion I’m once again doing a retrospective thinger. I did the same thing for year one (you can read my thoughts from back then, here and here); and also for year two (which you can read here and here).
As before, I’ve gone back and re-read all of this year’s newsletters and picked out the best bits. However, as you might have guessed from the post title that would have made for a hellishly long email, you can read part one here, and this is part two.
But before we get into all that, a little shameless self-promotion…
** Ideation for Digital PR: Live Workshop Series **
I’ll be running a new cohort of my Ideation for Digital PR course (a four-week live workshop series delivered over Zoom), in January 2024.
Each week, there will be a 90 minute session where I'll guide attendees step-by-step through the ideation process I personally use. I’ll suggest a range of exercises attendees might like to complete between sessions; plus they’ll be plenty of time for Q&A each week.
There are a few Early Bird tickets still available for just £180*. Prices will rise at midnight on Thursday 14th December (or when all the early bird tickets are sold - whichever happens first) so grab your ticket now :)
Full course details can be found here & you can book your spot here. Tickets are selling pretty fast so if you’d like to attend, get a wriggle on my loves.
*Early Bird tickets are limited, regular ticket price £240. Prices quoted exclude Eventbrite fees.
Ok, grab yourself a suitable beverage, and let’s do this retrospective thinger:
My Favourite Finds of the Year (Part Two)
Advice (& work-related stuff)
Do you have a nemesis? (On envy, enemies, rivalries, and phantom beefs). (Related: I wrote more about this here.)
Hanif Abdurraqib on The Church Of Minding One’s Own Business
Articles, Essays, & Interviews
I Ruined Two Birthday Parties and Learned the Limits of Psychology
Remembering the Egyptian Childhood I Never Had Through Its Culinary Traditions
Everything and Nothing - the Barbie movie, Lilith, Eve, and all our gendered hopes and expectations
We Need to See More Parents Having Abortions in Film and Television
Empire of Dust: What the Tiniest Specks Reveal About the World
Art
Anxiety - Decisions, the Fate of the World, and Everything In Between
Sculptor Thomas J Price Challenges Convention and Makes Us Question Who Gets To Be Seen
‘On reflection, it’s very uncool’: readers’ scrapbooks of pop fandom
Amy Sherald On Bearing Witness, Social Anxiety, and Finding Respite in Her Work
Language
Science, Nature, & various studies
The Puzzling Gap Between How Old You Are, & How Old You Think You Are
Meet Melibe Viridis, the Carnivorous Sea Slug with a Vacuum Cleaner for a Head
How Sauropod Dinosaurs Became the Biggest Land Animals Again and Again
Tweets & Web thingers
This Font Erases One Word for Every Journalist Imprisoned in 2022
The Least-Streamed Songs by the World’s Most-Streamed Artists
Fiction & Poetry
Fuel, edited by Tania Hershman — a brilliant collection of prize winning stories, and all profits from the sale of the book are donated to Fuel Poverty Charities in the UK. Treat yourself to a copy here.
It’s Not About The Burqa, edited by Mariam Khan — a collection of essays written by Muslim women about faith, feminism, sexuality, and race.
Lone Women by Victor LaValle — LaValle deftly weaves history, horror, folklore, and suspense into this tale of Adelaide Henry, a Black homesteader — it’s the Wild West, but not as you know it.
Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho — a collection of connected, but non-linear short stories about two Taiwanese American women navigating friendship, sexuality, identity, family, love, and loss over two decades.
Furies: Stories of the Wicked, Wild and Untamed - this short story anthology includes stories from Margaret Atwood, Kirsty Logan, Chibundu Onuzo, Helen Oyeyemi, Kamila Shamsie, Ali Smith, and more - buy a copy for every she-devil, hussy, harridan, and siren in your life.
The Guest by Emma Cline. A study in precarity and excess, this tense, tightly-written novel follows a week in the life of 22-year-old sex worker Alex.
Things We Say in the Dark, Kirsty Logan - This collection of chilling fairy tale-like short stories shift from the uncanny to the terrifying (and definitely won’t be for everyone) but I loved it.
Our Missing Hearts, Celeste Ng - I devoured this dystopian parable about America’s history of child removal.
Penance, Eliza Clark - With her fictional tale of an horrific murder in a small town in the North of England, Clark takes aim at our obsession with true crime. I’m not convinced she quite succeeds, but it’s a hell of a ride.
Chain Gang All-Stars, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah - Prison inmates fight to the death in order to win their freedom on reality TV (again, this one won’t be for everyone) in this compelling dystopian tale.
Trust, Hernan Diaz - Comprised of four different manuscripts which tell different versions of the life of a Wall Street businessman and his wife, this is a slow-burner about the ways in which we deceive ourselves and each other.
Transcendent Kingdom, Yaa Gyasi - A young woman attempts to come to terms with her brother’s death in this beautiful meditation on science, faith, and grief.
Pearl, Sian Hughes - Inspired by the medieval poem of the same name, this novel explores, love, loss, and healing, as a young woman attempts to come to terms with her Mother’s disappearance.
Western Lane, Chetna Maroo — a beautifully-written coming of age novel about grief, sisterhood, and identity.
Non-Fiction
The Patriarchs (how men came to rule), by Angela Saini — here, Saini, (a science journalist and broadcaster), goes in search of the true roots of gendered oppression, uncovering the complex history of how it first became embedded in societies and spread across the globe from prehistory into the present.
Skip to the Fun Parts - Cartoons and Complaints about the Creative Process), by Jeri Maier — here Maier explores topics like procrastination, the benefits of having an artistic nemesis, and the power of channeling your inner six-year-old.
How Women Grow, by Alice Vincent — an exploration of why women turn to the earth, as gardeners, growers, and custodians.
TV, Film, & Podcasts
Hannah Gadsby: Something Special (Netflix) - this is definitely lighter in feel than Nanette — but it’s not all unicorns and rainbows — Gadsby artfully segues between panic attacks, introducing their girlfriend to their mum, heartbreaking breakups, bunny killings, and more.
Judy Blume Forever (Amazon Prime) - Blume is an absolute legend, and this documentary about her life, her writing, and the ways in which she changed the lives of her huge number of young readers, is just wonderful.
Only Murders in the Building, Seasons One & Two & Three (Disney+) - I was very late to the party with this murder mystery series, but it’s ace.
Rye Lane (Disney+) - A sunny South London romcom for people who don’t like romcoms — this is genuinely lovely.
Crip Camp, Netflix - this documentary traces the beginnings of the US disability rights movement from Camp Jened (a summer camp in the Catskills for teens with disabilities in the early 1970s), to the present-day.
Mae Martin: Sap, Netflix - I love Mae Martin, and this hour-long stand up special of theirs is charming, heartfelt, and an absolute delight.
Game On: The Unstoppable Rise of Women’s Sport, (Netflix). Sue Anstiss directs this documentary, which is based on her book of the same name. Through a series of interviews with high profile women in sport, she charts the recent surge of interest in women’s sport, and highlights the barriers still in place, namely: Why does women’s sport still not have the funding and investment of men’s?
Deadloch, Amazon Prime. This (very sweary) serial killer police procedural is so unlike anything I’ve ever watched— set in a small Tasmanian town, this darkly comic, feminist, twisty and twisted series written by Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan is well worth your time.
The Bear - Season 2, DisneyPlus. Season 1 of this tightly-written drama was one of the best things I watched last year, and the second season is quite possibly even better than the first.
Stuff I’ve made, done, or tried out
I ran the first cohort of my Ideation for Digital PR Zoom workshop series.
I attended this poetry course and it was wonderful.
I wrote some things about the lies I tell myself.
Areej launched the WTS Knowledge Hub and appointed me as editor — it is far and away the best work gig I have ever had.
I spent a week away with my Dad singing and playing folk songs.
I had a lovely time chatting to Austine Esezobor about how individual Digital PR pieces actually perform; the pros and cons of "Hero" (or asset-led Digital PR) versus "Reactive" (or Digital PR without an asset); and what more realistic Digital PR goals might look like. You can watch or listen to the episode here.
I had a wonderful time on my hols with Steve and we got drunk tattoos.
I ran a four-week, live workshop series (delivered over Zoom) on PR Pitch Writing with my wonderful friend Britt Klontz.
I shared this frightening relatable comic.
I went to Teignmouth Shanty Festival to watch my Dad perform.
I acted as a moderator at BrightonSEO.
Areej asked me to both speak at, and emcee the very first WTS Fest USA and it was ace.
I have a wonderful time speaking at Leicester Live.
I attended a collage course at the Landmark Arts Centre.
Thanks so much for subscribing to, and reading this newsletter. If you enjoy it, please consider sharing it, and if you would like to support me in this odd little endeavour you can buy me a coffee.
That’s all from me for now, and indeed for 2023! Merry merries my loves and I’ll be back in your inboxes in the New Year :)
Big love,
Hannah x
PS Wanna find out more about me and my work? Head over to Worderist.com