Seeking out | Happy news

Good news is all around us, if you just know where to look

In our November issue we met Emily Coxhead (pictured), founder of The Happy Newspaper, along with several other inspirational ‘shiny, happy people’ whose job it is to put a smile on your face. 

With the world as it is, there’s never been a better time to look for good news, so we’ve collated a list of a few places you can go to find it. 

1. The Happy Newspaper

As a self-described ‘platform to share positive news and wonderful people, there’s lots to make you smile here. Visit The Happy Newspaper to buy online or find your nearest stockist. They even sell ‘happy confectionery’ should you feel in need of a really strong dose of happy. 

2. Positive News

A magazine and a movement that aims to change the world for the good. It is published in print every quarter and daily online and you can buy a copy through our own online shop, picsandink.com. Find our more at Positive News. 

3. The Good News Network

A US-based website with good news, lifestyle and business stories to cheer your day. The Good News Network. They also publish the GNN Podcast, which is a happy treat for your ears. 

4. BBC Uplifting Stories

Even Auntie is getting in on the happy news act now, with a special section on BBC News’s website for stories to uplift. Find them at the BBC website and search uplifting news. .

5. Squirrel News

Why squirrels, you ask? Well why not, we say. But also, they pick only the most nourishing nuts to store away, not the ones that will do them no good. And that’s what Squirrel News, based in Berlin, does too. Visit them here: squirrel-news.net. 

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More from our November issue…

More happy news…

Positive News from around the world | Balancing the books

When she realised that collections of rare literary works are dominated by male authors, AN Devers set about redressing the balance

"They are as close to perfect objects as exist in the world," smiles AN Devers, describing her favourite subject - books. Five years ago, she was working as an arts journalist in New York City when occasionally buying a signed first edition by a favourite writer turned into a more serious habit. Devers started going to rare book fairs and quickly noticed a price discrepancy in modern first editions by men, and those written by women.

“I knew that the rare book world was considered rather old-fashioned, but I hadn’t realised there were so few women book collectors or dealers compared to the number of men who sell and collect," she says.

Not long after, Devers was struck by the idea for The Second Shelf: a rare book business focused on books by and about women. The collector trade is part of a supply chain, she explains, one that leads to readers’ bookshelves, universities, archives and libraries. Historically dominated by white, Western ‘bookmen’, women – particularly women of colour – have simply been deemed less collectable.

“I put it down to the gender bias that plagues nearly all fields,” she says. “Women’s contributions are typically undervalued across all areas of our life and professional experience.”

The only book she has given herself permission to keep “that I could – and should – sell” is a first edition of Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar. Written under the pseudonym of Victoria Lucas, it’s a work that Devers calls “tremendous and underrated”.

Earlier this year, Devers also launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. It was a way to communicate the gender imbalance issue and also to raise funds for her burgeoning business. She used the proceeds – 608 backers pledged £32,000 – to launch an online book shop. And she now also prints a quarterly publication: a magazine and rare book catalogue hybrid for people who share her passion.

AN Devers and some of her favourite books at Second Shelf (thesecondshelf.com).

Turn to page 52 of October’s The Simple Things for more articles written by our friends at Positive News, the magazine for good journalism about good things. See the world from a different angle; positive.news/subscribe.

Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

View the sampler here.

More to make you happy:

More could-do lists:

Positive News from around the world

Where statistics and optimism meet

• 620k caged hens have been rehomed by the British Hen Welfare Trust since it was established in 2005. The Devon-based charity, supported by more than 500 volunteers, finds ‘retirement homes’ for hens otherwise destined for slaughter.
  

• Out of 35m flights in 2017, only two were involved in accidents with fatalities. The figure, based on research by aviation consultancy To70, means there was a fatal accident rate of just 0.000006% – a record low.
  

• 75% of Americans believe that immigration is good for their nation, new research by Gallup shows. It is the highest share of citizens to hold this view since 2001. Only 29% say immigration should be cut, the lowest share since 1965.

Turn to page 50 of September's The Simple Things for more articles written by our friends at Positive News, the quarterly magazine for good journalism about good things.

See the world from a different angle; positive.news/subscribe.

Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

View the sampler here.

More to make you happy:

More could-do lists: