a gathering place and a learning community for those who are drawn to the work of regrowing a living culture
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In the small Swedish town of Östervåla, thirty miles north of Uppsala, we are creating a school called HOME.
It’s a school that grows out of the conversations we bring together around our kitchen table.
It’s the fruit of the projects we led, the books we read, the organisations we built, the people we learned with and the friendships that formed us over the past two decades.
And it’s a new beginning. Something we’re figuring out together as we go along, with the help of that web of friends and collaborators.
HOME is a school the shape of a pocket. An air-pocket. A breathing space. A pocket of resistance and hope.
— Anna Björkman & Dougald Hine
News
October 2026
In the second half of 2026, we’re marking the centenaries of two thinkers whose voice and example were foundational for our work: John Berger and Ivan Illich.
It started with a rumour of convivial gatherings around the world in celebration of the centenary of Ivan Illich which spread around the world. We held our own gathering in Östervåla on Saturday 5 September.
We’re preparing for a similar celebration here on Saturday 7 November to mark the centenary of John Berger.
And our online series this autumn is The Storytellers, a five-week exploration of the paths that Illich and Berger traced, gathering kindling for imagination and resistance in dark times. Registration for the series is open and we have two groups starting on 4 and 5 November.
SUNDAY SESSIONS
a season of overheard conversations
In the spring of 2024, we hosted this season of conversations with friends of the school. Watch recordings from the whole series on YouTube.
At Work in the Ruins
at the Stoa
In this free Zoom event hosted by our friends at the Stoa, Dougald was joined by three thinkers whose work resonates deeply through the work of our school.
order the book
“Essential reading for these turbulent times.” — Amitav Ghosh
“Lucidly unsettling and yet in the end empowering.” — Brian Eno
“A must-read for all those activists feeling lost, desperate and perhaps subject to ‘press-on-itis’.” — Gail Bradbrook
Order a signed copy of Dougald’s new book, At Work in the Ruins.
