Modern life can feel like an injury. We sense a prevailing madness and find ourselves becoming exhausted and fed up with the news, losing faith in our world leaders and can’t seem to remember the last time we laughed until we cried. Where might we find relief, sustenance and perspective on the ailments of the modern human condition? How can we begin to look with tenderness and humour on the generic sorrows of humanity?

Join The School of Life as cartoonist and philosopher Michael Leunig shares six avenues of consolation as our soulful voice of reason. Drawing on works from his twentieth collection of cartoons Ducks for Dark Times, Leunig will explore how ideas such as melancholy, joy, sanity, mystery, beauty and small pleasures can console and guide us towards a greater understanding of life’s darker sides.

Michael Leunig is a master of improbable satire and simple expressions of care and hope. His cartoons use deft and spirited humour that help us through the malaise, and can support us in making sense of negative and horrific events. We will leave with new insights into how we can lean into the darkness and the unknown, accept melancholy as part of lives, and find joy and beauty in the uncertainty of our daily lives.