✨I could not be more excited to see what arrived in the post today. Not only because it is good to see 2 chapters reach the light of day, but because of the immense scholarship that has gone into this enterprise, with 69 scholars &2 vols my hat goes off to @ilikeoldbooks.bsky.social & other editors✨

Job opportunity: Curator (European Art) at Glasgow Life in Glasgow, UK myjobscotland.gov.uk/councils/gla...

Three exciting new books in the 'Shakespeare and Text' Cambridge Elements series: 🎆 Editing an Early Modern Play 🎆 Collaboration, Technologies, and the History of Shakespearean Bibliography 🎆 Anne Shakespeare's Epitaph More details: www.cambridge.org/core/publica... @roaringgirle.bsky.social

It's lovely to see this book finally making its way into the world. Co-edited with my brilliant colleague Richard Stacey, it examines Shakespeare's imaginative shaping of individual words, and parts of words. Thanks to our excellent contributors, and reviewers. www.cambridge.org/core/books/s...

Claxon 📣 for English lit. graduates: here's a fully funded 4-year PhD position at Leiden led by the fabulous Dr Lotte Fikkers, and co-supervised by yours truly, on literary representations of wardship in early modern English drama. bit.ly/4bEeH7a Apply by 31 May 2026; starting date 1 Jan. 2027

Great opportunity with a terrific team.

MA Scholarship Award for scholars of colour. In 2026, we plan to offer two scholarships of £4,000 each, to contribute to the costs of postgraduate study. This scholarship is open to candidates studying on either a full time or a part time basis. Apply by 15 July 2026 rensoc.org.uk/apply/schola...

The SRS invites applications for its Postdoctoral Fellowships, ŵ a stipend worth £15,000. SRS Fellows can hold jobs alongside their fellowship provided they do not take up more than the equivalent of 3 days a week over the course of the academic year. Apply by 30 April rensoc.org.uk/apply/postdo...

Gorgeous performance of ‘Pelléas et Mélisande’ tonight by the BBCSSO at City Halls. And what an incredible cast!

On Friday evening I'll be leading a Curator's Roundtable about my exhibition Tudor Contemporary @heong-gallery.bsky.social at Downing College, Cambridge. Tickets and more information here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tudor-cont...

Pop Leo asked if he should put on gloves to turn pages in the gorgeous Renaissance Bible and the librarian explained why it’s better to do so with bare hands. Glorious reaction. Every rare books librarian & archivist feeling very seen, I gather. www.instagram.com/reel/DUcpEBY... #BookHistory

Great job opportunity working with my better half @sebastianahnert.bsky.social on an exciting new #digitalhumanities project in Cambridge, funded by @schmidtsciences.bsky.social and working with fantastic people at CESTA Stanford and DensityDesign Lab Italy. www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...

Saturday evening listening. Davidsen and Spyres sounding lyrical and verbally incisive - no Wagnerian barking here. I’m less convinced by Nézet-Séguin’s conducting, but an engrossing performance so far. #TristanundIsolde www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

On the trail of Zachary Boyd this morning in Glasgow Cathedral.

It's out! 🎉🎉🎉 "Collaboration, Technologies, and the History of Shakespearean Bibliography" Open access (just click "save pdf" for a formatted version) It was a joy working with Heidi Craig, Kris May, and Dorothy Todd on this Element www.cambridge.org/core/element... ++

I’m pleased to say that we’re advertising for a permanent lectureship in early modern English Literature (grade 7). I’m happy to answer any questions via email. Please circulate. www.jobs.gla.ac.uk/job/lecturer...

Trump does not think strategically, historically, geographically, or even rationally. He does not connect actions he takes on one day to events that occur weeks later. Allied leaders know that if they help him in the Gulf, he won't be grateful, or even remember www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Job Klaxon! Three great opportunities for up-and-coming postdocs at Newcastle www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/43...

Well, if you’re going to spend the day looking at old books, proper fortification is needed.

Above Balmaha looking north west to Loch Lomond.

Sometimes it’s hard to know what to say after a performance of ‘Tristan und Isolde’. But I feel very fortunate to have heard tonight’s performance by Scottish Opera, especially Gwyn Hughes Jones’ Tristan - world class singing.

Come and join us!! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQS657/a...

👀 Over the last few months, I’ve been working with the terrific triumvirate @spparkle.bsky.social, @emiliekmmurphy.bsky.social & Hannah Yip to set up “Sonance: A Journal of Early Modern Sound Studies”, a diamond open access journal dedicated to historic sounds in all their wondrous & eclectic forms.

Some sunshine and blue skies, finally.

Head spinning after a powerful performance by the RSNO of a piece that means so much to me, Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony.

Delighted to announce that my first monograph, ‘Music and Emotion on the Caroline Stage’ will be published by Palgrave on 5 May!! 🥳🎉📕

This is emblematic of the consumer culture that fees have engendered. What the hell did the students expect? It was a ONCE IN A CENTURY PANDEMIC. There were LAWS against congregating in public. Staff worked themselves to the bone to get online delivery working. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Delighted to be series editor for Cambridge Elements in Women, Gender and Sexuality in Premodern Literature and Culture. If you have something cool and interesting you’d like to work with us on please get in touch (micrograph 20-30k) www.cambridge.org/core/publica...

When Musk said the "cumulative sum of human knowledge has been exhausted" for training AI, what he was really saying is that he would not pay for digitisation, and had reached the limits of useful data he could scrape for free. The GenAI house is built on sand.

OUP haul - looking forward to reading these.

I’m very proud of my two PhD students - Liz Leemann and Vivienne Belton - for passing their vivas recently. Two fantastic theses on the body and soul in early modern literary depictions of motherhood, and on Roman Catholicism and the senses in early modern drama. Look out for their work.

It’s time - happy Burns Night.

How exciting! I remember reading Richard Rolle’s ‘Incendium amoris’ as an undergraduate and being bowled over by his stylistic verve and theological sensitivity. What a boon for medievalists to have a complete text too. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

PhD funding for early career historians completing a doctorate. Applications are invited for the Society's Centenary PhD Fellowships for the academic year 2026-27 bit.ly/49MzqmT. Two awards of £8500 per student, held jointly with @ihr.bsky.social. Closing date: 31 January 2026 #Skystorians

Closing date 31 January: applications are now invited for the Society's new Applied History Fellowships with @ihr.bsky.social & DC Thomson: bit.ly/4ijiuII Fellowships support recent post-doc historians and demonstrate the appeal of historical skills for employers. £12,000 for 6 months #Skystorians

Spending some time in the seventeenth century this afternoon which - in comparison to the present - seems an oasis of calm and reason.

This is a stunning resource, beautifully presented - congratulations to Ros Smith Kathy Acheson and their team emwmlibrary.com

His nibs is not amused with this back to work nonsense.

Happy New Year and a pretty stupendous start to 2026 from my perspective as Predramatic Theatre -my co-authored book with @gregmw4.bsky.social - was published by Palgrave on Friday! link.springer.com/book/10.1007... Very kindly, our reader said of the book :-

Midwinter light.

Clearing the head on Boxing Day.

Part of my reason for writing anything is to improve my understanding of the topic. That means learning about new or half-known sub-fields, which means familiarising myself with the secondary literature. That’s axiomatic. It’s the lack of curiosity here, as much as the dishonesty, that I don’t get.

Yum.

Through his life and extraordinary talent, the immigrant and refugee child Tomáš Sträussler who became known to us all as Tom Stoppard made British theatre and this country a better place to be. You might even argue that he helped redefine Englishness through his astonishing legacy of work.

Some monsters and prodigies to end the week (from Paré’s ‘Opera’, 1582).

The best kind of Fridays.

Spending today and tomorrow at the Mitchell Library - love this place.

Here’s another fully funded 4-year PhD position at Leiden within the ERC project LangPro led by Dr Alisa van de Haar, and co-supervised by yours truly, on guilds and associations supporting early modern language professionals bit.ly/49rsLA3 Apply by 15 Feb. 2026; starting date 1 Aug. 2026

📢Here's a fully funded 4-year PhD position at Leiden within the ERC project LangPro led by Dr Alisa van de Haar, and co-supervised by yours truly, on professional opportunities for women in the early modern language sector bit.ly/47Y3hYI Apply by 15 Feb. 2026; starting date 1 Aug. 2026

I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight www.cityam.com/the-british-...