Oliver Basciano
@olibasciano.bsky.social
Writing, reporting, criticising. Mostly in south of the world.
OUTCAST: A History of Leprosy, Humanity and the Modern World is out now. You can buy it here: https://linktr.ee/oliverbasciano
OUTCAST: A History of Leprosy, Humanity and the Modern World is out now. You can buy it here: https://linktr.ee/oliverbasciano
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Oliver Basciano
@olibasciano.bsky.social
· Jun 19
Outcast: A History of Leprosy, Humanity and the Modern World is published today. It tells the 4000 year history of the disease and its stigma, and the remarkable lives of those affected past and present. I am very proud of it, and beyond thankful to those who told their story.
Very pleased to see Outcast reviewed in The Polyphony, which is a brilliant resource on the history and politics of medicine. Thanks for your kind words Arpan K Banerjee.
Arpan K Banerjee reviews Oliver Basciano’s Outcast: A History of Leprosy, Humanity, and the Modern World, exploring the modern history of leprosy through archives, literature, and personal narratives.
thepolyphony.org/2025/11/25/b...
thepolyphony.org/2025/11/25/b...
Book Review: Outcast: A History of Leprosy, Humanity and the Modern World
Arpan K Banerjee reviews Oliver Basciano’s Outcast: A History of Leprosy, Humanity, and the Modern World, exploring the modern history of leprosy through archives, literature, and personal narrativ…
thepolyphony.org
December 2, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Very pleased to see Outcast reviewed in The Polyphony, which is a brilliant resource on the history and politics of medicine. Thanks for your kind words Arpan K Banerjee.
Not exactly Kenneth Clark's Civilisation is it.
December 1, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Not exactly Kenneth Clark's Civilisation is it.
Trump is the gift to South America's leftist leaders that keeps on giving (tweeting).
‘Colombians don’t appreciate being branded as a nation of drug traffickers, least of all by someone like Trump. For the moment, President Gustavo Petro’s popularity has rebounded.’
New on the blog: Forrest Hylton on Colombia v. Trump.
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
New on the blog: Forrest Hylton on Colombia v. Trump.
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
Forrest Hylton | Gran Colombia Redux
The US can bomb Venezuelan military and civilian targets from the USS Gerald R. Ford but it’s difficult to imagine...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 1, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Trump is the gift to South America's leftist leaders that keeps on giving (tweeting).
I don't want to be the 'why isn't the media covering this' guy, because that guy is awful, but it is weird that the clearing of Venezuelan airspace of civilian planes, at the behest of the US government, hasn't received much anglophone pickup.
November 27, 2025 at 1:58 PM
I don't want to be the 'why isn't the media covering this' guy, because that guy is awful, but it is weird that the clearing of Venezuelan airspace of civilian planes, at the behest of the US government, hasn't received much anglophone pickup.
Reposted by Oliver Basciano
ICYMI: The industry is not supporting small-press publishers enough, not because it ought to, but because small-press publishing is the future of book production in this country, says Lucy Mercer in our recent Comment piece 👇 #BookSky
Don’t invest in AI, invest in the future of the book
ebx.sh
November 22, 2025 at 2:18 PM
ICYMI: The industry is not supporting small-press publishers enough, not because it ought to, but because small-press publishing is the future of book production in this country, says Lucy Mercer in our recent Comment piece 👇 #BookSky
Reposted by Oliver Basciano
Every existing thing is born without reason, prolongs itself out of weakness, and dies by chance. Apart from cake.
Life is given its due only if everything that has a history
of its own, and is not merely the setting for history, is credited with life.
of its own, and is not merely the setting for history, is credited with life.
November 20, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Every existing thing is born without reason, prolongs itself out of weakness, and dies by chance. Apart from cake.
Very happy to see Outcast on the Telegraph's books of the year list. www.telegraph.co.uk/books/author...
The greatest books of 2025
Our critics review hundreds of books a year. Here are their favourites, from fiction and crime to memoir and history
www.telegraph.co.uk
November 15, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Very happy to see Outcast on the Telegraph's books of the year list. www.telegraph.co.uk/books/author...
Last night, with my phone volume accidentally on, I was woken up in quick succession by the Ukrainiam air raid app that I have still and a Brazilian civil defence push notice of a cyclone. Only the cyclone came for me.
November 8, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Last night, with my phone volume accidentally on, I was woken up in quick succession by the Ukrainiam air raid app that I have still and a Brazilian civil defence push notice of a cyclone. Only the cyclone came for me.
128 people murdered by Rio police.
Awful things unfolding in Rio, over 60 dead, lots of favelados friends either unable to go home or trapped in their homes. Evil cops, evil state governor.
October 29, 2025 at 5:45 PM
128 people murdered by Rio police.
Awful things unfolding in Rio, over 60 dead, lots of favelados friends either unable to go home or trapped in their homes. Evil cops, evil state governor.
October 28, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Awful things unfolding in Rio, over 60 dead, lots of favelados friends either unable to go home or trapped in their homes. Evil cops, evil state governor.
Reposted by Oliver Basciano
We take no joy criticising a young left-wing UK political figure who has often spoken up for workers' rights and progressive causes. But these barely coherent comments from Zarah Sultana on Ukraine sum up much of what is wrong with her wing of the left www.instagram.com/reel/DQT62ys...
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www.instagram.com
October 27, 2025 at 4:20 PM
We take no joy criticising a young left-wing UK political figure who has often spoken up for workers' rights and progressive causes. But these barely coherent comments from Zarah Sultana on Ukraine sum up much of what is wrong with her wing of the left www.instagram.com/reel/DQT62ys...
Wrote about the rogue scheme to share museum membership cards that has been doing the rounds in London artist Whatsapp groups. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
‘It’s a bit clandestine, a bit punk’: the guerrilla scheme letting skint artists mass-share gallery membership cards
Now 600 strong, the Artist Membership Project is helping young artists see exhibitions while dodging hefty entry fees at top British institutions. We meet the founder of the scheme
www.theguardian.com
October 20, 2025 at 10:48 AM
Wrote about the rogue scheme to share museum membership cards that has been doing the rounds in London artist Whatsapp groups. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
Very proud that I, editor-at-large at ArtReview magazine, have not ben to the Frieze Art Fair in a decade. Career making.
October 17, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Very proud that I, editor-at-large at ArtReview magazine, have not ben to the Frieze Art Fair in a decade. Career making.
Reposted by Oliver Basciano
Evolutionary biologist @scs22.bsky.social has had a lot of success recently sequencing ancient RNA viruses from museum samples. This summer I had the chance to accompany him and a team of researchers to the Arctic where they hope that the permafrost might allow them to go further back in time.
🧪
🧪
On an Arctic archipelago, frozen soil may preserve a hidden history of viruses
Scientists are hunting for ancient RNA in Svalbard’s permafrost, hoping to shed light on the evolution of viral diseases
www.science.org
October 16, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Evolutionary biologist @scs22.bsky.social has had a lot of success recently sequencing ancient RNA viruses from museum samples. This summer I had the chance to accompany him and a team of researchers to the Arctic where they hope that the permafrost might allow them to go further back in time.
🧪
🧪
Reposted by Oliver Basciano
Outcast: A History of Leprosy, Humanity and the Modern World x Oliver Basciano hararereview.wordpress.com/2025/10/08/o...
Outcast: A History of Leprosy, Humanity and the Modern World x Oliver Basciano
320. June 17, 2025, Faber and Faber. Non-fiction. It took me longer than normal to read this book; in certain places it’s really hard to get through—for empath reasons. It shows so clearly how huma…
hararereview.wordpress.com
October 8, 2025 at 2:09 AM
Outcast: A History of Leprosy, Humanity and the Modern World x Oliver Basciano hararereview.wordpress.com/2025/10/08/o...
Heartened by @hararereview.bsky.social 's description of Outcast: "Fascinating and expansive, you’ll likely never read anything more magisterial. If you read just one non-fiction/history book this year, make it this one".
Taking this as my Nobel.
hararereview.wordpress.com/2025/10/08/o...
Taking this as my Nobel.
hararereview.wordpress.com/2025/10/08/o...
Outcast: A History of Leprosy, Humanity and the Modern World x Oliver Basciano
320. June 17, 2025, Faber and Faber. Non-fiction. It took me longer than normal to read this book; in certain places it’s really hard to get through—for empath reasons. It shows so clearly how huma…
hararereview.wordpress.com
October 9, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Heartened by @hararereview.bsky.social 's description of Outcast: "Fascinating and expansive, you’ll likely never read anything more magisterial. If you read just one non-fiction/history book this year, make it this one".
Taking this as my Nobel.
hararereview.wordpress.com/2025/10/08/o...
Taking this as my Nobel.
hararereview.wordpress.com/2025/10/08/o...
Bang on solid Nobel lit choice that.
October 9, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Bang on solid Nobel lit choice that.
I will forever lap up 'academics and scientists find out they have got the Nobel in slightly comic or heart warming fashion'.
October 7, 2025 at 1:00 PM
I will forever lap up 'academics and scientists find out they have got the Nobel in slightly comic or heart warming fashion'.
Always stand up to bullies.
"I had a great talk with the president of Brazil. He's a good man ... Yeah, we'll start doing business" - Trump on Lula just now 👀
October 6, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Always stand up to bullies.
Reposted by Oliver Basciano
The pope got mansplained the Bible.
really enjoying all the people trying to explain the bible to the pope today
October 2, 2025 at 5:00 PM
The pope got mansplained the Bible.
PRs! Top tip! If your client can't be trusted to speak, don't say they are too busy for an interview but will reply to written questions. Clearly the latter takes far longer.
Anyway. No.
Anyway. No.
October 1, 2025 at 11:55 AM
PRs! Top tip! If your client can't be trusted to speak, don't say they are too busy for an interview but will reply to written questions. Clearly the latter takes far longer.
Anyway. No.
Anyway. No.
Brazil sadly came last in this year's Intervision, the song contest established by Russia after they were thrown out of Eurovision. Despte the act really leaning into "being Brazilian". www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JJl...
Luciano Calazans & Tais Nader - Pipoca com Amor (LIVE) | Brazil 🇧🇷 | Intervision’25
YouTube video by INTERVISION 2025
www.youtube.com
September 25, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Brazil sadly came last in this year's Intervision, the song contest established by Russia after they were thrown out of Eurovision. Despte the act really leaning into "being Brazilian". www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JJl...
Wrote a few obits recently. Perhaps the saddest personally being for John Morgan, the graphic designer (including of ArtReview). You can read that here in the Guardian. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
John Morgan obituary
Graphic designer who dispensed with the traditional prayer book aesthetic in Common Worship for the Church of England and produced lettering for HMS Victory
www.theguardian.com
September 24, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Wrote a few obits recently. Perhaps the saddest personally being for John Morgan, the graphic designer (including of ArtReview). You can read that here in the Guardian. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
I went to the first Nag Nag Nag, and then most weeks thereafter. On the second week I chatted up a nice looking boy, There was no plan I'd be living with him and a dog twenty-three years later in Brazilian mountains, but I guess these things happen.
September 19, 2025 at 3:19 PM
I went to the first Nag Nag Nag, and then most weeks thereafter. On the second week I chatted up a nice looking boy, There was no plan I'd be living with him and a dog twenty-three years later in Brazilian mountains, but I guess these things happen.
Currently reading Mircea Cărtărescu and revelling in the fact I have no idea what's going on most of the time. Just a massive wave of post-war (set) Romanian brilliant madness.
question: how much does it bother you in a book if you don’t quite understand what’s going on? what measures do you take to remedy this lack of understanding? what novels most rewarded your further investigation?
September 19, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Currently reading Mircea Cărtărescu and revelling in the fact I have no idea what's going on most of the time. Just a massive wave of post-war (set) Romanian brilliant madness.