I hope that art can change the world, or ask us to change the word - and that we listen.

Emergency Dream by @pollyrowena.bsky.social is so, so good. The book I needed to read, the book that held me ❤️

We are so excited to be on Bluesky! This year’s festival is from the 5th-8th November. Will we see you there? With huge thanks to Vici MacDonald and Andrew Lindesay for creating our beautiful logo 🌊 💛 #newlogo #poetry #writing #poetryfestival #suffolk

in the midst of it all, I find my ideas of “perfection” changing, my need to be “perfect” disappearing. perfect body (whatever that is), perfect cv, perfect writing, perfect tone, perfectly curated persona. all the “perfect” interruptions to a really and truly and unapologetically lived life

I haven’t shared too much poetry recently - I’ve learned that I’m not someone who writes very much during crisis, amidst grief. but I have a new one, one of my only new ones, in @aaww-nyc.bsky.social’s gorgeous new folio edited by Megan Pinto and Kiran Bath 🩷 aaww.org/then-the-lak...

Phillips "This is not a country where people get thrown in jail for things they say" @zackpolanski.bsky.social points out 2,700 people have been arrested for holding signs And well done to Zack for challenging Phillips smear that 'from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free' is antisemitic

have you found any new-to-you poets recently? maybe through a literary journal? maybe one who doesn’t have a full length book out yet? I would love love love to be introduced to some new writing

I can’t touch pen to paper without it taking the form of grief, grief, grief.

The UK government is proposing radical and punitive changes to settlement rules. This is settlement, not citizenship. The consultation is open until 12 February; please respond to it and oppose these evil proposals. Amnesty have a good guide: www.amnesty.org.uk/resources/gu...

last night in Paris, a writing prompt

writing poetry for yourself in the dark hours of the morning >>>>>>>

The act of pretending I’m not sad and filled with grief over the holidays, because it doesn’t fit in with everyone’s generally festive moods

only able to read short things at the moment - any favourite short stories? or short story collections? 🌱

my latest newsletter – on how grief has changed how I process information, and how diaries/notebooks have become a home for all my peripheral, fragmented thoughts elsewheres.substack.com/p/ephemera-o...

everything is so much work all the time

end of year “best book” lists are coming out, so just a little reminder that you and you books are valuable, whether or not you’re on them 💛

Scientists now believe that the human brain--a magic goo for worrying--can also be used to do other things

it's gutting to see access and widening participation initiatives being binned across the university sector. ELCE here at Bristol, Essex Pathways here. nothing pushes my personal, visceral buttons like the idea of denying academic study to someone whose life it could change

Only a few days to go! Get your tickets, Berliners!

If you donate £10 or more to this fundraiser by @divyampersaud.com, I'll send you a signed copy of Another Way to Split Water - will post anywhere 💙 (3 copies available - just msg me with a screenshot)

It´s Friday, it's raining- and most of us have a safe place to stay, away from the rain and the cold. Palestinians do not have this luxury, the situation is catastrophic and wishing it away won´t help. But you can help by sharing and donating, you can offer real, tangible help. Please do.

to be a writer is to want to be known and unknown, public and private, searchable and imperceptible, visible and hidden both

Applications are now open for 2026-27 Fellowships at IASH! Apply via the portal on our website: www.iash.ed.ac.uk/application-... This round (for visits between August 2026 and July 2027) closes on 27 Feb for mid-career/senior scholars, and on 24 Apr for postdoctoral/early-career researchers.

what are some poetry journals people are loving these days? want to read some new work by poets I don't know yet

a year and 11 months of Crips for eSims for Gaza ;-; waiting for you to see this post, Alice! T_T #ConnectingGaza bit.ly/eSimsRUs

my debut nonfiction book comes out in less than a year, which is kind of freaking me out 🌝 if anyone knows where to pitch interviews or essays related to it, or has experiences to share, please let me know I'm barely functioning lately & this added layer of being perceived is really quite the trip

missing home, the idea of home, multiple homes, the home of my past self

“I try to forget violence. but isn’t art all about spectacle?” my recent poems, written in despair, while witnessing and losing & deep in darkness, circle questions of commodification & capitalism. this is a system that causes pain, thrives on our hurt & refuses to see even amidst all the scrolling

thinking back to when I used to write poetry maybe clumsily, but with a real, untameable passion. every image, every sensation, was brand new. every line was a portal, even if just back to myself. the poems are possibly better now, but sometimes they feel empty, lacking in vigour, lacking in life.

I've written a little bit about grief [spoiler, it's lonely and unbearable] in this kind of fragmentary short piece about waves. open.substack.com/pub/elsewher...

We stand in solidarity with our trans siblings and are united in our anger at the Supreme Court ruling & EHRC update. Trans, non-binary and intersex people are facing exclusion from basic aspects of public life. Please read this thread that contains recommendations and calls to action.

I will never, ever understand people who put alignment with institutions and literary organisations before Gaza. Who trade silence for opportunity. Who publish so many words in their books but, when it comes down to it, truly say nothing at all.

BREAKING: An Israeli airstrike on a school-turned-shelter has killed at least 25 Palestinians, mostly women and children, Gaza's Health Ministry said. The school was hit three times while people slept, setting their belongings ablaze, they added.

It was a great and timely reminder that our published work is out in the world making essential connections, even if we don't see it. Amazing to think of those books travelling to Finland. Also to see my poetry being taught in good company with @alycia.bsky.social and @reshmaruia.bsky.social.

have an exciting meeting about my manuscript in progress next week - and suddenly everything about it feels real 🌱

trying to simultaneously (re)read 4 books at a time because I can't choose where to begin

Megathread of pro-trans petitions on Parliament’s petition website. If Labour suddenly gets hit with debates for a bunch of pro-trans petitions, maybe they’ll realise this issue isn’t going away and they’ve fucked up. I’ll add more as I find them. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/70...

No transphobic court ruling, no bigot in charge of NHS, no billionaire media can indefinitely hold back the fierce tides of love and joy and courage that is queer community and solidarity. These are the desperate gasps of a dying era, one we will survive. Love & solidarity, today and every day 🏳️‍⚧️

The Supreme Court sided with FWS. But it didn’t hear from a single trans person. This ruling sets a dangerous precedent and erases trans women from protections. It puts trans rights back 20 years. We won't stop fighting for trans rights 🏳️‍⚧️

Every climate justice writer belongs in their union. The Society of Authors claims to be committed to sustainability. But climate justice is about more than sustainable sources of paper – it’s about power. In calling for individual authors to hold their publishers to account, the SoA is… [1]

Please donate what you can 🫶🏽

growing up is realising that the better your activism & organising & advocacy work is for your CV, the less effective it is at changing the status quo of systemic oppression

Landscapes and journeys both real & imagined, legends & the truest of true stories, unfurl in the poems of #AnuLakhan (The Proper Care of Knives) and @alycia.bsky.social (Another Way to Split Water). Hosted by @novelniche.bsky.social & supported by the British Council. #bocas2025 #alwayscominghome

There's sooo much I want to do and replying to endless emails is not one of them 😭

What creative instruments does nature give us, to shape and reflect on the world we inhabit? Guide your environmentally informed writing to its next level with @jallenpaisant.bsky.social and @alycia.bsky.social Pirmohamed: bocaslitfest.com/events/this-... #bocas2025 @britishcouncil.bsky.social

I have a new poem up in @anthro-poetry.bsky.social 💙 Inspired by the work of Sara Ahmed, 'Encounters' reflects on the doubling, dividing, stretching, and contracting of migrant bodies as they move from place to place, room to room, stanza to stanza. www.anthropocenepoetry.org/post/encount...

It's wrong to send Americans to an overseas megaprison. It's wrong to send non-Americans to an oversea megaprison. It's wrong whether they committed a crime or not. It's wrong whether they have been sentenced for a crime or not. Cruel and unusual punishment is wrong. Concentration camps are wrong.