Henry Benedict Tam is well-known in the WEA because of his extensive experience in supporting the development of inclusive communities. He has led previous government initiatives on delivering wider democratic empowerment, promoting civil renewal and improving community-based regeneration. He has also been a thought-provoking speaker at various WEA events and has challenged us constructively from time to time. A former civil servant in the Home Office and Department of Communities and Local Government, he is currently the Director of Cambridge University’s Forum for Youth Participation & Democracy.

Professor Tam has drawn on his expertise as a policy advisor, programme director and political theorist to write extensively on politics and society, but, in a rather surprising new project, he has now written his first novel, Kuan’s Wonderland. He describes the book as a fable to intrigue and prompt debate. “Some may find it subversive”, he told me, “but aren’t novels meant…