What does the age of digital convergence, Facebook, and globalization mean for the future of the written word? Writer/carver/painter Tim Brookes offers remarkable and thought-provoking perspective on this question by looking at a range of forms of writing from all over the world that are in danger of extinction.
He displays a carving of a piece of text in each script, leading a discussion on how technology will help—and always has helped—define the nature of communication, and shows how the story of a culture can be seen in its writing, even if that writing is (as in these examples) beautiful, utterly unfamiliar, and disappearing.
For information on the Endangered Alphabet Project visit www.endangeredalphabets.com.
About the Presenter
A graduate of Pembroke College Oxford, Tim Brookes has been a writer, editor, guitarist, soccer coach, and woodcarver, and founder of the Endangered Alphabets Project. He was an essayist for NPR for twenty years and is the author of sixteen books, including Guitar: An American Life and Endangered Alphabets.
