In June of 2022 David Perell contacted me. He’s the founder of Write of Passage. Their creed is that writing online changes your life: so that’s what they teach people to do.

They offered to support my work. After all, writing online has certainly changed my life. But our relationship isn’t a typical sponsorship. I’m not obliged to mention Write of Passage whatsoever, never mind advertise or thank them publicly. Rather, they offered me the role of Writer-in-Residence.

This harks back to the Renaissance, when artists or writers would find patrons to support their work. And so, like when Torquato Tasso was patronised by the Duke of Ferrara in the 1570s, Write of Passage simply want me to write as much as I can and to share my work with as many people as possible.

It is their patronage that lets me bring the Areopagus to over fifty thousand readers for free, and which allows me to write so frequently on Twitter. I am deeply grateful for this opportunity. It’s what any writer dreams of.

But what’s most exciting is that I’m only their first Writer-in-Residence. David Perell and his team have big ambitions for the future. Watch this (or, rather, that) space.