My old old copy of the stories: already 247,000 copies in print by 1987…

A fine documentary currently on @artefr.bsky.social on the life and work of Ingeborg Bachmann, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of her birth www.arte.tv/de/videos/12...

Sooo much bad info about "trad publishing" in certain circles. Like, "Is it true they will eat yer baby and ensanguinate it as well?! And then wear the skin while you get only 1 percent of the profit from dead baby?!" "Yes, it is true. So it has been written. And they will keep you in cave." LOL.

The cooling system was installed by the village AC technician, Thermodynamix 😊

Here’s how I’ve been spending my time publishing.monash.edu/product/some...

'This is a bold, fearless show that has a thoughtful vulnerability to it, as well as a seething undertone of fury and bite....How glorious that a book of poetry has been transformed into such a vivid and original piece of New Zealand television.' thespinoff.co.nz/pop-culture/...

real ones don’t use AI to make their Facebook flyers

Your German word of the day = "Dachgeschosswohnung" ("attic flat", or better: furnace!). Living on cold beer and Ritter Sport this week... #garretlife

I'm at the launch of Madness Then & Now by Roby Raeburn and Claire Chang, the history of Australia's second Lunatic Asylum in Liverpool. Launched at Liverpool Library, published by Liverpool City Council. Fascinating to hear about the influences of Madness on the colony of Australia.

Some nice cold outer-space music seems very welcome in a week like this from PJ! pjharvey.lnk.to/voyagerEM?_k...

Today this was installed at Sandymount, Otago Peninsula. Love you, dearest bro. #TheChills

I loved this book and it is my choice for the Miles Franklin if I had my druthers. But it’s an amazing shortlist and another reminder of how important the immigrant class and multiculturalism is to Australian Culture

Judges' comments on @minon.bsky.social's MF-shortlisted novel: "(It) asks complex & timely questions about who gets to be a settler and who remains a migrant in OZ. First Name Second Name explores how these larger national questions intersect with the forces of desire and belonging that shape us.1/2

"I keep coming back to the idea of “face value”. The term has its origins in the mid 19th century: the face of a coin, its value stamped. Non-negotiable. I took him at face value; we all did." A v good, v sad piece by @kirstenkrauth.bsky.social on Craig Silvey www.themonthly.com.au/kirsten-krau...

ICYMI earlier, today's happy news

Congratulations to the six authors shortlisted for the 2026 Miles Franklin Literary Award. We’re proud to support this important prize and celebrate the stories, voices and perspectives that make Australian literature so compelling. Discover the shortlist: buff.ly/2PDJCro

Beyond thrilled. I’m dead.

So thrilled that @minon.bsky.social has been shortlisted for this year's Miles Franklin with his fantastic debut novel First Name Second Name!! #MFLA2026 www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...

Saul Eslake on the money here: "the reason our housing affordability problem would never be solved was because a very large majority of Australians don’t want it to be solved, and politicians know it...there’s still at least 11 million votes for more expensive housing" www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...

Burnham will become PM to The Verve's Lucky Man. He will usher in Cool Britannia II. The Union Jack will be reclaimed by ordinary folk and bucket hats will be given out on the NHS to protect against long, hot summers. Burnham's cabinet will drive to Brussels in three Minis to rejoin the EU.

A lack of books coverage, including book reviews, “hurts everyone in the books ecosystem: readers, writers, publishers, and, of course, bookstores,” Porter Square Books said in its Book Review announcement. www.niemanlab.org/2026/06/book...

It’s worth bearing in mind with Starmer that it doesn’t have to be an accumulation of faults. For some of us there are simply red lines, such as not protecting the human rights of vulnerable people. The rest only adds to the conviction.

Wayne does BTZ...will look forward! open.spotify.com/episode/3rsC...

"How could a list of ‘the greatest literature ever published in English’ be so resolutely bound to the north?" A Southern Hemisphere Fiction 100 via the good folk at ANZ Literature www.anzliterature.com/feature/the-...

Would like more evidence of this thesis myself: the books I've been involved with have featured an abundance of love and care on the publishing side imho www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...

If you would like to know what fifteen men think about the World Cup, you can find out here. If you would like to know what a woman journalist might make of it all, you'll just have to use your imagination. www.theguardian.com/football/202...

It's 15 years ago now, but this interview with MJC is great that I just found at The White Review ("And that is the miracle of a good translation, not to be invisible, but to be as seductively fresh and original as the original") www.thewhitereview.org/feature/inte...

Delighted to see @vijaykhurana.bsky.social pick up a gong at the 2026 @societyofauthors.bsky.social Awards: The Passenger Seat was a knockout of a novel societyofauthors.org/2026/06/18/i...

How marvellous: an Austrian footballer who reads Thomas Bernhard (which is a bit like a Socceroo reading Gerald Murnane!). The thread reveals that the International Bernhard Society has sent Xaver a top-up of TB's books, as he only took "Woodcutters" with him, and has finished it already!)

i never stop thinking about Jonathan Meades’ claim that Calder using his family wealth from the brewing industry to invest in publishing meant Scottish drinkers effectively helped fund the European avant-garde.

54. “Far better to write than dare to live…”

Tim Ferriss, author of the 4-Hour Work Week and other self-help slop, is seeing his book sales crater because people are getting their advice from ChatGPT instead lmao

LOCAL AUTHORS, DO NOT TREAT BOOKSTORES LIKE A RESOURCE TO BE EXPLOITED

I wrote a little essay – and then some experimental poems – about Banjo Paterson, the terrible Australian poet I somehow can't get out of my head

That time in 2016 when I took a James Joyce finger puppet to visit the bookshops of Bloomsbury.

Louise Wallace on some of her inspirations for Ash (her debut novel out in just over a month in the UK incidentally through Hutchinson Heinemann) debutiful.net/2026/06/15/s...

Great to see another firmly modernising move from the Royal Family

'No, there was something in the poetry itself, something that I was unable to simply dismiss as nostalgic white-nationalist kitsch-mongering, something bittersweet and strange that seemed to rumble away beneath the surface of the text.' New on our website: @ajbwells.bsky.social on Banjo Paterson

So pleased whenever I encounter this on the title page…she’s so very very good

This is why a 48 team World Cup is good, actually.

"In the early 1940s, the self-taught Orkney smallholder’s child tried to find a teaching role at St Andrews. Although TS Eliot and John Buchan submitted testimonials, the professor of English swatted Muir away as ‘a crofter’s son who has never been to university’" engelsbergideas.com/reviews/the-...

Deliveroo driver just said, “Thank you. Have a good night. I love you!” Probably a Hungarian phrase book situation, but in the spirit of mankind, I love you, too, Deliveroo driver! I wish you a soaring future!

Love in particular the shout-out to @jake-dean.bsky.social's wonderful story "Apocalypse, Then" here! Opening: "Think your luck is bad? Try this: I got a short story accepted by The New Yorker and then the world ended..."

It’s all connected: public joy, public transport, public confidence, civic networks and resilience and optimism (plus the, y’know, economy, etc). The Mamdani effect is its own kinda of magic – but also, freely available to anyone/ any city/ any country that cares to join the dots on this stuff! 🌇❤️🎁

Just after 10 pm - so tranquil…

I hadn’t realised these two both died so soon after their trip… #amreading

What an amazing way to visualize early human migration. Lovely map by @HarvardCGA. A great colour scheme and an appropriate map projection! Source: buff.ly/3lbxonJ

I think what confuses people so much is when someone is doing something not for money, but for the cultural good or the social/artistic good. Those that treat art like a transaction and not a relationship completely miss the point of art.

"What are ppl consistently getting wrong about...agenting today? The assumption that they only care about $ – 15% of a small book deal & NYC rent are genuinely incompatible. But there are ppl in this profession who are deeply committed to the literary future" www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...