About Nonsense & Lit
Nonsense & Lit is an independent publication exploring literature, language, and contemporary culture through essays, criticism, and long-form conversations.
Founded in 2025, we are interested in the ways literature and language move beyond the page: how written texts change through adaptation and performance, how language shapes interpretation, how stories travel between forms, and why works written decades or centuries ago continue to find new cultural lives.
Our work moves between literary criticism, linguistics, performance, adaptation, and cultural commentary, bringing an academically informed perspective to the subjects we explore. We believe serious engagement with literature and language can be rigorous without being inaccessible, leaving room for curiosity, reflection, and the occasional bit of nonsense.
Our Approach
Alongside essays and criticism, Nonsense & Lit publishes long-form conversations with writers, academics, performers, and others whose work intersects with the subjects we explore.
Our interviews centre on our guests’ work and intellectual or creative interests, giving them space to reflect on the texts, ideas, influences, and processes that have shaped what they do. Rather than approaching interviews as conventional promotional Q&As, we favour thoughtful conversations that allow ideas to develop naturally and unexpected threads to emerge.
Nonsense & Lit is independently run and self-funded. Our editorial choices are guided by curiosity, genuine interest, and the belief that some of the most interesting conversations happen between disciplines.
About Karly
Karly is a linguist, writer, and co-founder of Nonsense & Lit. She holds a postgraduate degree in English Language from the University of Edinburgh and an undergraduate degree in Modern Languages and Linguistics from Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP).
Born in Mexico, she has also lived in Ireland, Scotland, and Germany and is fluent in Spanish and English, alongside speaking French, German, and Italian. Her interests include literature, poetry, pragmatics, discourse analysis, and the ways language moves between texts, cultures, and everyday life.
At Nonsense & Lit, Karly writes about literature, language, and contemporary culture, with a particular interest in the relationship between text, adaptation, performance, and language.
Outside the publication, she enjoys reading, theatre, travelling, and spending time with her cat, Gigio.
About Chels
Chels is an English writer, editor, and co-founder of Nonsense & Lit. She studied Communications, Film and Television at Nottingham Trent University before completing an MA in English Studies at the University of Nottingham.
With a particular interest in classics, folklore, and adaptation, she is drawn to the ways stories are reinterpreted across different periods and forms. At Nonsense & Lit, she writes about literature and culture, drawing on her background in both media and English studies.
Outside Nonsense & Lit, Chels works as a tutor and academic proofreader and has previously written for MindlessMag. She enjoys reading, crafts, the seaside, and spending time with her dog, Molly.
