The conference was going great until a talker who doesn’t have small children declared that toddlers today don’t want books about princesses and instead want to read about transgender astronauts.

In response, I quoted a Basque writer who says she and her colleagues avoid calling themselves feminists because the concept has been completely perverted by American academics.

Every building here in Valencia is infernally hot. We are three Canadian ladies, so we made our room temperature at the hotel glacial. But the conference building is a sauna. Conference organizers included abanicos in our goody bags because speakers will conk out without ventilation. Even male attendees gave up and started using the abanicos. What do you even call them in English?

For the first time ever I hope I get no questions after my talk because my brain melted to a soup consistency.