3 Review(s)

Featuring 12 original, award-winning and emerging voices from around the world Planet Democracy: Stories of Hope, Courage, Unity & Compassion is a special edition of Mithila Review devoted to Hopepunk — a literature of resistance, which seeks to inspire compassionate thought and positive action. Alexandra Rowland, who is said to have coined the term, described “Hopepunk” as a form of literature that is opposite of dark and dystopian fiction: “Hopepunk says that kindness and softness doesn’t equal weakness, and that in this world of brutal cynicism and nihilism, being kind is a political act. An act of rebellion.” “Hope” and “punk” are the two key elements that make hopepunk interesting and powerful. Characters who don’t quit, who resist oppression, and fight for justice, for change, for democracy. There can’t be hopepunk without an underlying and undying faith in global democracy and freedom. Planet Democracy: Table of Contents FICTION Robert Bagnall The Ones Who Scream America Buzz Dixon Trucker Eve Morton Milkman Mark Rivett This Is My Home paulo da costa Harefoot Express Johnny Caputo The Rhythms of the World Jetse de Vries Zen and the Art of Gaia Maintenance POETRY Mari Ness Horsemen J. D. Harlock Brighter Than the Last Angela Acosta Paradise of the Abyss Florence Lenaers School of Continuing Education Gretchen Rockwell In My Utopias