A short but wonderful trip to Brussels for the 2023 Festival of Freedom

So many memories in only 3 days!

Another beautiful weekend in Maine

A few perfect fall days

My interview with Nathan Robinson for Current Affairs →

Also available as a Current Affairs podcast, “Why We Need Utopias,” September 15, 2023

New podcast episode from A.K. 47 finally posted →

Finally managed to finish reading The Workers Opposition

So thrilled with this review by Emily Raboteau in The Nation Magazine →

A new interview with Angela Saini for the Science podcast →

Monday, October 2 in the Penn Anthropology Department →

A nice review in Inside Higher Ed →

Everyday Utopia in London: September 2023

I did a short trip to London to sign books at some central London bookshops and gave a few talks at the How the Light Gets in Festival at Kenwood House.

My appearance on Freakonomics radio

The Atlas Obscura segment starts at about 45:00

My appearance on Freakonomics radio. The relevant segment starts at about 45:00

A little book summary from London

After my solo talk on “Utopian Living,” I was asked to do a little summary of the book.

Kristen Ghodsee at the How the Light Gets in Festival in London discussing her book, Everyday Utopia

New interview with me in Die Zeit Magazin (in German) →

It’s paywalled, but you can see the pretty cover photo here

KQED Forum: What Does Utopia Mean to You? →

Listen to my interview with Mina Kim and William Paris on KQED’s The Forum.

Happy to be a member of the 2023 class of Penn Fellows

I finally joined social media for real

So, I have finally taken the plunge and joined Instagram. I resisted this decision for many years because I just feel like the whole enterprise is manipulative and dangerous and I hate being a product. I also despise Meta as a company. Many moons ago I once had a Tumblr account, but I completely deleted it at some point and lost all of my followers. I have a TikTok account started for me by a former student, but I have no idea how to use that platform.

An editor once said to me that if I wanted to reach young people with my writing, I had to meet them where they are, which is on social media. My daughter is on Instagram and so are many of my students, so I am trying to figure out how to use this whole platform. If you are so inclined, please follow me at @kristenghodsee. You can watch me flail.

Everyday Utopia in Maine!

Check out this amazing drone footage of the Cribstone Bridge

Everyday Utopia in Harpswell, Maine

First day of school

2023 Reading Challenge: The Great Transition by Nick Fuller Googins

I got a preprint of this wonderful novel from the author, and I finally got around to reading it. I enjoyed the book immensely: it is hopeful and imaginative and will appeal to anyone interested in alternative visions of our climate crisis future. I was especially a fan of the co-housing developments that appear throughout.

My conversation with Lauren Goode for WIRED's Have a Nice Future podcast →

Listen or read the transcript now

My interview with the amazing Sean Illing for the Gray Area podcast →

I adored this conversation with Sean Illing. Read the transcript or listen to the full podcast on whichever platform you use.

A clip from my interview with Sean Illing