In this post, Nisha Ramayya shares some of the things that have made lockdown feel less lonely and helped her to consider loneliness differently.

Susheila Nasta and Hetta Howes discuss Sam Selvon’s 1956 novel 'The Lonely Londoners' and its themes of loneliness, race and the city explored through the lives of Windrush migrants in 1950s Britain.  The discussion took place as part of our 'Spaces of Solitude' podcast series and features in Episode Four, which explores classic ideas of loneliness and the many ways of being alone in a city.

Our Principal Investigator Barbara Taylor explores the mysteries and joys of erotic companionship between a lone woman and a bear, in this reading of Marian Engel's award-winning novel 'Bear'.

During the UK's first period of lockdown, our project began to form an archive of written testimonies about how the pandemic has affected people's experiences of solitude. In the last of three blog posts, members of the public reflect on the positive elements they have found in their lockdown lives.

During the UK's first period of lockdown, our project began to form an archive of written testimonies about how the pandemic has affected people's experiences of solitude. In the second of three blog posts, members of the public reflect on the possibilities and impossibilities of solitude in family life.

During the UK's first period of lockdown, our project began to form an archive of written testimonies about how the pandemic has affected people's experiences of solitude. In this first of three blog posts, members of the public reflect on physical isolation during and after lockdown.

Thomas Laqueur takes us on a journey through literature and art in our latest guest post to find the animals who guard against cosmic loneliness.

Josh Cohen muses on imagination and daydreaming in Emily Dickinson's poetry, and the ways in which they illuminate an adherence to disappearance, confinement and radical solitude in her life. This post comes from our recent project colloquium, where research associates explored the pleasures and perils of deliberate solitary retreat from society.

In the newest guest post on this blog, Jane Shaw muses on experiences - past and present - of community forming and being alone together as part of religious retreats.

Fay Bound Alberti discusses facial difference, loneliness and the challenges raised by the pandemic in the latest post for our series on 'Solitude in the Time of COVID-19'.