Very happy to celebrate two books on the Jhalak Prose Prize longlist today! Congratulations to Brian Chikwava & Katie Goh, whose respective novel Shamiso & hybrid memoir Foreign Fruit are longlisted!

Toni Morrison Ali Smith Octavia Butler Elena Ferrante Angela Carter

Is there any comfort in finding out every person that you thought was a wrong un is indeed a very, very wrong un? No, not really.

new Mitski album appearing on the hilltop like Gandalf on Shadowfax, but for lesbians going insane during fascist collapse

yeup, it's a dog eat dog world out there... not much for the rest of us to do, so mostly we bet on the dogs. is it a great world? of course not, it's covered in wild dogs fighting and eating each other across a landscape smeared with viscera and shit. but hell, i know i'd miss it if i ever left

Torry residents face losing St Fittick's Park to an Energy Transition Zone and they're fighting back. A Play for Torry uses words from people who've watched industry reshape their neighbourhood for decades. Read why this fight turned into performance. ⭕ Now on POST

I feel like one of the most underrated explanations for what's happening right now in global politics is that almost everyone has lost their minds.

Skint, baw ragged, poackets ful eh ma fingers, cannae afford tae burn toast an it’s November. Christmas is close… —William Letford, “This is it” Published in DIRT, @carcanet.bsky.social 2016 #poem #poetry www.carcanet.co.uk/978178410200...

Aberdeen producer Vagrant Real Estate releases Neither Collar Nor Crown on St Andrew's Day, bringing 25 Scottish artists across genres and generations together. Read our full piece on the ambitious album dropping this weekend. ⭕ New on POST postabdn.com/vagrant-real...

It's the anniversary of Section 28's demise. By me: "Section 28 was largely a creation of the right-wing press, and many of the people, publications and proprietors who contributed to the anti-gay panic back then are at the forefront of the anti-trans panic today."

We’re going to need a bigger little treat

Excited about the return of Aye Write Book Festival to Glasgow & delighted to be taking part in Who Will Be Remembered Here - Queer Spaces in Scotland: Mae Diansangu, Louise Welsh, Lewis Hetherington with Carrie Marshall - Glasgow Life share.google/lBEUQpOp8y1Q...

Remember the veil between the dead and the living is at its thinnest tonight so it’s your perfect opportunity to call Cilla Black a cunt.

This is a wonderful book that’s full of surprises, a real inhale-in-one-go collection (I’m not just saying this because I’m hosting three of the brilliant contributors at Aye Write next weekend. That’s just a bonus). Powerful, resonant, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny.

Writer pals! just a wee reminder to join ALCS if you haven't already, and to make sure they have details of your print publications by the end of november - 30/11 is the cut-off for the next royalty payments in March. www.alcs.co.uk

Proud book mama stylee! 😁🥹 Three sleeps to launch! Come and meet our amazing contributors on Saturday, and hear poems, real-life and invented stories, a script and a game. 🎫 www.tickettailor.com/events/jedap...

Bring your vuvuzelas! Aberdeen welcomes refugees, not racism! Stand up to racist bullies with music, colourful banners and messages of hope. All welcome. Saturday 25 October, 4pm, Patio Hotel, 213 Links Road, AB24 5EF (also called Doubletree Hotel, off Beach Blvd).

Glasgow people! I am running a second Queer Sex and Kink-themed writing workshop at Burning House Books in November! ⛓️💦 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1841349789...

picture of a drill that says THIS IS NOT A DRILL! NEW MAGRITTE EXHIBIT OPENING!

Which type of gay are you? Lady Marmalade, Cell Block Tango or Read U Wrote U?

It really is such a treat when I get to take part in very cool bookish events with very cool bookish people 💜

All the plants I have half-grown by Linden K McMahon (Stewed Rhubarb, 2024) From the inevitable anxiety of ecological crisis, the ecopoems in All the plants I have half-grown follow the strange, uncomfortable, glorious, glittering threads that link us to our ecologies, …

If you're looking for a good deed to do today, maybe spare some pennies here if you can: www.gofundme.com/f/my-fathers...

Publicity shot for a stage production of 'The Wizard of Oz', 1902. Arthur Hill as the Lion and Anna Laughlin as Dorothy

I've put together a pack of ghostly, biological, ecological & geological grain textures for use in any art/design projects you might have. 25 files, 300dpi, free for download via Dropbox - if you find them useful, show your appreciation via Ko-fi! www.ryanvance.co.uk/resources

Big & joyous news: Mae Diansangu's Bloodsongs has been longlisted for the Poetry Debut prize in the Saltires, Scotland’s National Book Awards! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🎉 Congratulations, Mae! 👏 @vavapoetry.bsky.social We're so happy to see this incredible book continuing to get the recognition it deserves! 🥹 🔥🔥❤️❤️❤️🔥🔥

🚨 BREAKING! The Scottish Government has announced that it will back our bill to ban greyhound racing! This cruel sport resulted in the deaths of hundreds of dogs in the UK last year. It's time to end it in Scotland for good.

Love this. LOVE. THIS.

Love & Other Cancers by Olivia Thomakos. Deeply personal—yet universally resonant—this book deftly exploring the struggles of life journeys as we discover ourselves & navigate familial, friendly, & romantic relationships through seasons of illness, loss, & change. stewedrhubarb.org/product/love...

Titular poem from Shane Strachan’s 2024 collection Dwams. 🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷 In a spectrum of voices across Scots and English, the poems in DWAMS concern themselves with the climate emergency and just transition, rising xenophobia, and with queer romance and sex, in a groundbreaking debut collection…

They’re right, you couldn’t make Life of Brian today; the director would be thrown in jail for setting a scene in Palestine and shouting “action!”

Infinitely grateful to have lived in the same universe as James Baldwin.

In episode 10 of In My Good Books I spoke to 4 writers who withdrew their nomination from this year’s Polari Prize. They are @vavapoetry.bsky.social @sachacoward.bsky.social Rhian Elizabeth and Robert Hamberger. Then in episode 11 I caught up with @kingsley-pearson.bsky.social author of Flat 401.

FINE social is a relaxed evening with no set agenda. Take along games, cards, or creative prompts to share – or just go for a chat with other freelancers. Back on Wednesday at the Arts Centre Cafe Bar, it’s free and open to all, no booking required. More 👇🏼 buff.ly/lXQcJtO

One can remain happily alive for long periods of time by being vaguely interested in what tomorrow's tiny treat may be.

got to read a favorite poem to some adorable farm friends

Westhill welcomes refugees, not racism! Community groups & local residents are gathering on Saturday 23 August, 5-7pm, for a peaceful event outside the Hampton Hotel on Straik Rd, Westhill. There will be food, music, colourful banners and messages of hope for the refugees living there. (1/6)

Stupid sexy Flanders...

BLOODSONGS has been nominated for Scots Book of The Year(!) The public decides the winner, but you don't need to live in Scotland to vote - just follow the link 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💖 projects.handsupfortrad.scot/scotslanguag...

Jason just shared this and it pretty much says everything I feel about the situation www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Today! Fierce Salvage comes to Edinburgh International Book Festival, where we’re miraculously going to cram three anthology contributors, two editors and one host onto a single stage! See you there? www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival...

@waywordabdn.bsky.social consistently doing some of the best programming in Scotland...for FREE! An absolute privilege to have this wonderful festival in my home city, even moreso to participate as an artist.

@waywordabdn.bsky.social consistently doing some of the best programming in Scotland...for FREE! An absolute privilege to have this wonderful festival in my home city, even moreso to participate as an artist.

Scrolling through computer desks on the 2001 Argos catalog. Surprisingly narcotic experience if you’re an elder millennial

My new novel will throw its arms around you a month today. I can’t wait for you to meet the Two Roberts. It’s based on two real artists and it’s all about love & art & class & queerness & Scottishness & all that hot stuff. It’s set 1933-1962. Thanks for supporting! buythebook.online/the-two-robe...

Weaving the Uncanny writing workshop with Jeda Pearl 29 Aug, Berwick-upon-Tweed – £20 Join Scottish Jamaican writer @jedapearl.bsky.social to explore Paxton House’s history & links to the Caribbean, & create writing braided with folklore & supernatural elements www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/weaving-th...

remembering this nice old lady on the subway once who leaned over my shoulder to read whatever book of poems I had, and when I "caught" her I held the book between us, I let her tell me when to turn the page, and at her stop she thanked me for letting her be a "thief of my reading"

This is just a theory...but I'm guessing some people saying Sandie Peggie's racism doesn't negate her inalienable right to be transphobic, also get off on telling queer people exactly why we shouldn't give a fuck that Palestinians are the victims of genocide.

New Video! Watch here: youtu.be/Sba1RMSaQlo A powerhouse poem from Mae Diansangu, who went on to win our Aberdeen Slam! Learn more about Mae's work: www.instagram.com/vavapoetry We're so grateful to Aberdeen Performing Arts for partnering with us! Learn more: www.aberdeenperformingarts.com

Oh so we've started age verification?