Florence Hazrat - On the Mark

What was the first punctuation mark? When and why did we start leaving gaps between words? What was the point of the percontation point ( )? Where did the pilcrow originate?While most of us have likely not stopped to consider where the punctuation marks that pepper our everyday language originated, for writer, researcher and educator Florence Hazrat those very same dots, dashes and symbols are an obsession.

For her, they tell a fascinating story which spans ages and cultures and provides a history of humankind.Join Hazrat for an entertaining and enlightening journey across the world and through the evolution of language from ancient Egypt to the latest emojis to celebrate the silent marks that infuse our words with meaning and shape our literary cultures.

Along the way, meet the people who, over the centuries, have made punctuation what it is and discover how the tiniest of symbols have moved markets, shifted elections, toppled political systems and decided the fate of a human life on death row.Masterfully weaving together anthropology, the history of writing, the philosophy of language, psychology, literature and more, On the Mark shows how punctuation is at the heart of human communication.