Amazing evening of poetry and celebration at our competition winners event at the gorgeous Theatreship earlier this week with @betarish.bsky.social Pics: @catherinespooner.bsky.social , @eleanorholmes.bsky.social, Sam Harvey, @elcurwen.bsky.social More: www.instagram.com/p/DZK7Fhtip01/

Essential reading for anyone concerned about the current state of British universities. Completely nails the complex economics and political wrangling behind the situation and the cultural vandalism that results.

📣 Job Alert (permanent) 📣 Lecturer in English Literature (Romanticism), The Open University www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DRQ222/l...

I was delighted to be asked onto @hayfestival.bsky.social Book Club last week to talk about Dracula with Anthony Delaney and Eimear McBride - watch the full conversation at www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1Ff...

*Very* excited that vol.1 of New Directions in the Ghost Story, edited by myself, @henrybartholomew.bsky.social & @joanpassey.bsky.social is out! Well done to all the contributors, and thanks for bearing with us! :) Please recommend to your academic libraries! link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

This is a dance off. If you see this, repost a dance.

+++ Wishing a most wonderful birthday, to Robert James Smith of The Cure, who was born on this day, the 21st of April 1959, in Blackpool, Lancashire. +++ #robertsmith #thecure #postpunk #newwave #icon #altrock #goth #OTD #blackpool #lancashire #gothcore #gothic #alt

New Lancaster University School of Arts podcast dropped! Listen in on me, Richard Rushton, @debraferreday.bsky.social and Kamilla Elliott get over-excited about Wuthering Heights, Charli XCX, costume design and much more: open.spotify.com/episode/2hKg...

I'm headed to Sheffield later this term to talk about one of my obsessions for the Ann Radcliffe, Then and Now project. Come and join me and talk women in white dresses and why we are all watching Gothic cinema now!

Thrilled that my poem 'Scrimshaw' has been commended in the Magma Poetry Competition Editor's Prize. Magma Poetry is a fabulous magazine, so the commendation is really worth having.

Great blog by @harrietfletcher.bsky.social on Lady Gaga and Gothic Celebrity: theconversation.com/lady-gagas-m...

Young men get a lot of bad press at the moment, but my 18yo & 8 of his friends walked from Lancaster to Kendal (40km) this weekend to support a friend with mental health difficulties & raise money for Lancashire Mind. They’re still accepting donations at www.justgiving.com/page/mighty-...

Superb afternoon @litfest.bsky.social listening to the most talented #authors and #illustrators @moohara.bsky.social @mglnrd.bsky.social @chrismould.bsky.social with @catherinespooner.bsky.social thank you to all of you for sharing your talent and stories today 👏👏

Lancaster’s first LGBTQ+ bookstore opened today on the charter market and look what I got! Brand new books by @louisewelsh00.bsky.social and @inkyrosey.bsky.social

One of the projects you can support on Smelt is a new sitcom by me. It's called The Least Bad Of All Possible Worlds and it's about refugees from parallel universes trying to integrate into society in Morecambe. You can pledge to fund it here: if you fund it, we make it! mirlo.space/leadmojo/rel...

How I’m walking out of 2025

How I’m walking out of 2025

Please someone remake It’s a Wonderful Life but from the POV of Violet narrating her adventures in Pottersville.

As a journal editor this is fucken horrifying. Asbestos in the walls.

People say AI is a magic shortcut to creativity & success. I’ll tell you the real secret and it’s voraciously reading, being interested in everything, being diligent in the pursuit of learning, paying attention to the interior lives of others & keeping a heart open to the world.

Just officially launched this wonderful @sidekickbooks.bsky.social anthology which I contributed to... it's perfectly stocking-sized, just right for the vampire lover in your life! sidekickbooks.com/booklab/book...

Seals singing in a sea cave #Orkney 🦭🎧

When people say that Wuthering Heights doesn't have anything to do with race or that no film has engaged with race, what they mean is that for them Romani people do not count and they also haven't been paying attention. I'm going to share a little material from a recent talk. Content note: racism 1/

Strong editorial in the Independent today www.independent.co.uk/voices/edito...

Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching

I contributed to this one… guess what I chose?

How to Hibernate. Scanned by us from the 1952 book Animal Fair, by the Provensens. It’s time.

So I've been reading the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper. There's some good things in there. But when it comes to universities there's very little to cheer. The situation is very tough and will get worse. The last chance to preserve what we've got has passed. Let me explain why. (1/?)

My fab colleague Sharon Ruston on the new Guillermo Del Toro Frankenstein: theconversation.com/guillermo-de...

´It’s not about knowing. It’s about being present.´ Devastating essay on the power of gaps, errors, mishearing in the way we teach.

Damn. This is amazing. £325 per week, paid monthly, for 3 years - and the result was a profit for the Irish economy: www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employmen...

Free Gothic event alert! Panel discussion on Gothic Italy, in person at Goldsmiths or hybrid, Tuesday 7 October: bads.gold.ac.uk/gothic-italy

My new novel, The Heist Of Hollow London, is published TODAY. The hardback may not be out in the UK yet - it's listed for the end of October here - but the ebook is certainly available now. Here are some links but please feel free to buy wherever you can find it: amzn.to/3IOGJRw

I am genuinely baffled and distressed as to why the UK government is intent on destroying UK's genuinely world-leading universities, who bring £265 billion into the economy and support more than 250,000 jobs. This tax will kill us. www.standard.co.uk/news/politic...

ANIMAL GHOSTS (1980): Spooky short story anthology centred around, well... animal ghosts. The cover is particularly striking - those animals are freaking out, man!

🦇🎶It’s the most wonderful time of the year…

Warwick English came 5th in The Guardian today, which is great for us. But also notice that Lancaster came 3rd for Creative Writing & 7th for English - but the university is decimating programmes & firing 1/3 of academic staff over the next six months 🤔🤔🤔 @lancasterucu.bsky.social #saveartsandhums

Started the day with a free gig at the Lancaster Jazz Festival - Johanna Burnheart at the Herbarium cafe, in a rammed side room I didn't know was there until today. She was superb. tidal.com/browse/artis...

Early 20C Marxist Gothic. Here for it.

When you’re researching in the British Library and you discover the copy of the 1853 novel you’ve called up is inscribed by the author…

As usual forgot to take photos, but here's a couple from @catherinespooner.bsky.social's and @coffinboffin.bsky.social's wonderful keynotes 🩵

So grateful to @ogomproject.bsky.social for bringing us together for the dream mermaid conference. A brilliant three days thinking about submarine fantasies 💦🧜‍♀️🩵

This frontispiece in my book just made me laugh a lot. Is this Buddhist reincarnation, or some other form of afterlife?

Just a reminder to check for your name in this list of books that OpenAI trained from. If your name is there, they probably owe you several thousand dollars. OpenAI cried that if everyone eligible author files, the company will go bankrupt, so I'm alerting every author I have ever spoken to.

Worrying long term hidden fiscal drag The family income threshold at which English students maintenance loans start to get reduced is just £25,000/yr. It has been this level since the 2008/2009 academic year. We have had 64% (CPI) inflation since then. So it's been slashed hugely in real terms

Gender began in 2015 (Later than it might have been) Between the end of Ed Miliband And Minions on the big screen

Introducing our brand new podcast for the 'Ann Radcliffe, Then and Now' project! You can find our first episode, 'Editing The Italian', an interview with Professor Michael Gamer, by clicking the link below 👇 player.sheffield.ac.uk/events/editi... And be look out for episode two, coming soon..

Superb article on why and how we need to take a more proactive stance towards social class in higher education by @bethjohnsontv.bsky.social: www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/soci...