Went to see Steve at the cinema last night, really incredible performances by Cillian Murphy and Jay Lycurgo but all round great cast and storytelling. One that stays with you.

If you write professionally in the UK, make sure to sign up to ALCS for your fair share of royalties

Trying to search for info on the use of headstones and footstones in Sussex, and all I get are business websites trying to sell a headstone to me. Not yet, people!!! Can anyone share info with me about these, and when they became popular? Photo is from Seaford's St. Leonard's Churchyard.

Call of the Wilde I can draw one of these for you if you like. All my cartoons are drawn to order, they're not prints. www.worldofmoose.com/products/cal...

The British Library have just sent me photos of ILLUSIONS OF PRESENCE - it has been printed!!! EMINENT ANTHOLOGIST Aww yeah. #FESTIVESHINYSHINY Book out October 16, pre-order your copy from links below:

Join the London Youth Folk Ensemble! Come to our free Sampler Session at @cecilsharphouse.bsky.social this Saturday. You will need to: -be aged 11 to 19 years old -be able to play confidently on your own chosen instrument -bring your own instrument Find out more and book now bit.ly/43l4o3D

Victorianists - a little bit of silly joy in all the gloom: take a moment today to vote for this gorgeous Lego set idea of the Great Exhibition so we can all get it for Christmas! beta.ideas.lego.com/product-idea...

"I need you to understand what this country feels like to those of us who look different, because only then might you glean what those flags going up signify to someone like me. They are a preemptive claim over contested space." - writes @sturdyalex.bsky.social. https://bit.ly/469g1Mz?

Who wants to hear me talk about the Dance of Death? That’s what I’m going to be doing on Thursday - it’s online, and you can get tickets here: thelasttuesdaysociety.org/event/will-y...

Went for a research trip to kids' bookshops this am and it's frustrating to see how traditionally thematic the shelves are. History is Greeks, Romans, Egypt and WWII. Science is space, transport & periodic table. Nature is oceans, dinosaurs & predators. Hard to pitch new things as no place on shelf!

Spotted Mythology Land on the shelves of Waterstones and Heffers in Cambridge this morning 😍

📢 Reminder: the deadline for the Social History Society Small Grants is coming up soon! 💷 Up to £1000 available to support research, events & activities in social & cultural history 🗓️ Apply by 1 October for events Dec–Apr 🔗 socialhistory.org.uk/funding/smal... ✨Apply today!

I've written to Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage, urging them to join me in condemning Elon Musk's dangerous remarks inciting violence yesterday. As leaders, we must stand together and make clear Musk will face serious consequences for these actions.

Thunder, lightning and hail here in Cambridge! Very Biblical end of times...

Working on some new book proposals today which is both exciting and terrifying at the same time. It also causes me to get really bad procrastination...

A wonderful blog post from our research project

shot in the dark: im interested in this 1720 woodcut held by Wellcome. do any #witchcraft #HexTag people know anything (???) about it? id also take suggestions for who i could contact at the Wellcome to ask for more details eg provenance (not listed) wellcomecollection.org/works/h4r27epm 🗃️

Sometimes I come on here intending to share a little glimpse of my day (today it was going to be some thoughts on freelancing) but then I start reading all the horrendous news and important views on here and get depressed instead.

I wrote about what I think is a genuinely revealing document of elite depravity and impunity. It is shocking and sickening. But it's also a crucial moment. We're about to see what happens when conspiracy theorists actually get what they asked for but it turns out not to be what they want.

Took the 17yo up to York on Friday for their open day. So impressed! The archaeology department seemed excellent, the campus was great and the city so pretty!

First weekend at our new allotment and with the enthusiastic help of the younger two teens we did a blitz, yanking out weeds and discovering a nice patch of peppers. We also cleared a path through the fruit bushes. So much still to do, but very exciting to make a start.

Strands today is unbelievable in its mockery of UK sugar knowledge! Had to resort to Googling 'US words associated with sugar' to get the final one 😂 #NYTpuzzles

Lunch of champions! Dashi with noodles and spring greens topped with peanut ryu 😋

Have an idea you would like to develop into an academic book? Applications to the Bloomsbury Academic Writing Fellowship open 1st September 2025 to Black, Asian or Ethnically Diverse early career scholars (UK only). More info: bit.ly/4mHlgcn #academicsky #phdlife #highered

📣 #CfP: "Death and Bereavement in Early Modern Britain, 1520–1689" Join us for a one-day conference at the University of St Andrews on 26 June 2026. The keynote speaker is Professor Alec Ryrie. The deadline for proposals is 11 December 2025. #EarlyModernHistory #skystorians

#FolkloreThursday is back! Join us this Thursday (4 Sept) for our hosted Stars and Skies themed day. Our hosts will share your posts to the hashtag at the following times BST: 9am-1pm 3.30-4.30pm 6.30-7.30pm 🌈⛅✨🌜 Image: Luis Marina, via wikimedia commons

Our creative call is here! Take a look below for details, you have until October 17th to submit your work!

Twenty years ago today me and @optimisey.com got married! Three kids and a dog later and we're still going strong. So lucky to have found my person 💓

Just heard that we're top of the allotment waiting list and we're hopefully going to see a vacant plot and snap it up when we're back from hols! 🥳 I'm now fantasising about the gooseberries, blackcurrant and rhubarb I'm hoping to grow but I'd better start reading up as I don't actually know how 😂

I haven't done the whole age verification thing and not sure I will, so if you want to get in touch with me don't DM me, instead email me via my website www.nonfictioness.com 😊

John Singer Sargent demonstrates his bravura technique in this charcoal sketch of art historian Claire Stuart Wortley, drawn in a single sitting at his studio in Tite Street, Chelsea 1923

I just published a new article all about crows in Japanese folklore, culture and art. open.substack.com/pub/curiouso... #JapaneseFolklore #yokai #JapaneseArt

Unbound/Boundless are officially bust and I am selling the remaining copies of my book. Freelance writers, The Pyjama Myth will make you a better, happier freelancer. freelancewritingjobs.substack.com/p/buy-the-py...

Celebrating #NationalClownDay on #Caturday. c. 1890 clown cat

Assault course vibes on morning dog walk as I had to dodge the rotating water sprayer that was watering the potato field. Ended up sprinting past and feeling pleased with myself for staying dry until my soggy dog got excited and jumped up covering me in mud!

Goodbye to the history department at Lancaster University, where the @socialhistsoc.bsky.social was founded 49 years ago. From tomorrow we are part of a School of Global Affairs. Next year, who knows what will be - please sign our petition against mass redundancies chng.it/PZfTFDjNcr

Lovely to see my review of The Human Shutter up on @invisibleculture.bsky.social. I highly recommend checking them out if you have any interests in the visual culture bracket! Brilliant editing team 👍 #histphoto www.invisibleculturejournal.com/pub/fg0fru51...

Not gonna lie: I'm having a tough time. @tealcartoons.bsky.social & I have a kids' book out soon called DEAD ENDS. It's for kids 8-12, but we think everyone will like it. I'd love if you'd consider preordering a signed copy from @mysteriousbookshop.com 👇 www.mysteriousbookshop.com/products/lin...

I've done it! Just submitted my PhD thesis (digitally, no hard copy required!). Massive thanks to my supervisor Dr David McAllister and Birkbeck for all their support! Feels very strange to be done! #PhDone

The Folklore Society's own @odavies9.bsky.social and @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social's forthcoming book 'Folklore: A Journey Through the Past and Present' is also part of Waterstones' 25% off upcoming books offer, until midnight on Thurs 31 July www.waterstones.com/book/folklor...

It’s UK National Marine Week! 🐟 We’re celebrating with rare fish prints from our collections by Hiroshige: the last great master of ukiyo-e woodblock printing, whose work even inspired Van Gogh. In his 'Grand series of fishes', they pair marine life with seasonal plants. Read more: buff.ly/OYoIF6y

#CFP 📝 Our 'Interdisciplinary perspectives on empire, colonialism, and anticolonialism' event on 17 October 2025 will bring into dialogue different perspectives of the subject across the arts, humanities and social sciences Find out more and submit a paper by 30 August buff.ly/Avy8Okl

📢 Cover reveal and special offer klaxon! My next book 'Mythology Land', beautifully illustrated by the very talented Pham Quang Phuc, is out in the UK in Sept 2025. With 12 legendary tales from all around the world this book transports readers to faraway lands of mystery, fantasy and magic!

Just putting it out there in the universe I suspect lots of young people will be wanting to read about girls football following the Lioness’ latest success. I have written lots of books in this genre Also - for any editors interested, I would always love to write more 😂

The best part about being someone who studies women's history in the 1700s is when people tell me that 14 year olds being off limits is a "recent phenomenon", I get to plop down an entire dissertation of reasons why that's wrong AND feel like the 10 years of training to get the phd was 💯 worth it.

We're delighted to announce that the CfP for our 2026 conference @stir.ac.uk, 'Sex in the Long C19', is now LIVE! We are grateful to have received generous funding from @bavs-uk.bsky.social, allowing us to award travel bursaries to some delegates. Abstracts due 22 September 2025. Share widely!

#BAVS2025 you were a blast! 5 x Birkbeck papers from @drvickymills.bsky.social @nonfictioness.bsky.social @helenaesser.bsky.social Julia Kuehn and me! Great to hang with @jeremynewton64.bsky.social too! Such fun and sociability with so many great #Victorian scholars! @19birkbeck.bsky.social

This is getting close to 150K signatures now. It might not do anything, but it will serve as evidence for the future that the UK government were aware of the opposition of its own people to its complicity in the Israeli genocide on Gaza & the fact that it did nothing to stop it.

My monograph, ‘Theological Monsters: Religion and Irish Gothic’ coming out next year 🖤🧛‍♀️

@jendeavour.bsky.social I wanted to say how much I enjoyed your talk but had to dash off! Such an interesting way of thinking about short stories and how their positioning effects their meaning!