Hello, I’ve an event for my Muriel Spark biography next Weds (15th) at Waterstones Liverpool. We’ve sold barely any tickets, however, and it might be cancelled as a result. Please get a ticket if you’re nearby - it’ll be a lot of fun, and I’ll bring badges! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/waterstone...

I’ve had a wonderful day down in the Midlands meeting Muriel Spark’s biographer Martin Stannard and his lovely wife Sharon. I’ve been digitising Tristram Carey’s radio play version of The Ballad of Peckham Rye. It’s an incredible artefact and I can’t thank them enough for the opportunity.

My mum’s been clearing out the cupboards and found this certificate from her school days. Cracking stuff!

New publications by IASSL members: the essay ‘Scottish by Formation’: Michel Faber’s Under the Skin and National Ambiguities' by @rodgeglass.bsky.social has bee published in the latest issue of Studies in Scottish Literature 51:2 @edinburghup.bsky.social.

From an extraordinary debut inspired by a real-life breakdown to a creepy masterpiece, @drjamesbailey.bsky.social provides a guide to the “uncanny, astute and witty” fiction of Muriel Spark 💙📚 www.theguardian.com/books/2026/a...

Great stuff from Ollie here! Highly recommend signing up to @thebletherscotlit.bsky.social and giving it a read 👍🏻

That’ll be me writing my Annual Progress Report then. I’m sure there must be more efficient ways of working 😂

Sign up below to read the piece I wrote about our #ScotLit trip to Arran 💪

I wrote a thing about caves and our recent #ScotLit trip to the Isle of Arran. Sign up to the link here if you’d like to read it. Also, The Blether is very good, so you’d be doing yourself a favour anyhow… 👍🏻

This really pisses me off. There was, and still is, a pandemic. Having been a student during this time but also living with someone actually who had to do the work to make sure degrees continued to happen, it’s an ignorant and hurtful attack on people who were trying their hardest. Solidarity ✊

Episode 4 is out: Scottish Folk and European Music with Kirsteen McCue, Professor of Scottish Literature and Song Culture at @glasgow.ac.uk We discuss the history of Scottish folk music and particularly its influence on the birth of modern music — from Beethoven to Bob Dylan. 🎼🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Link⬇️

Bit of a dreich journey getting there, but I’ve had a wonderful couple of days @natlibscot.bsky.social looking through Muriel Spark’s archive and the latest Companion to The Scottish Novel. Great stuff 👌

Limited-edition Gray Day merch! All proceeds support our 2026 programme. 'Lanark' notebook (lined/plain) + 'Words, Wards, Wurds' pen. £5 bundle w/code till 25.02.26. Thanks @canongate.co.uk, The Estate of Alasdair Gray & Abby Carter. Head to online shop to buy!

We kick off our Daily Burns Blether emails with our By the Way! @katekane1542.bsky.social brings to our attention the Bard’s connection to Mary, Queen of Scots. Focusing on Burns’s 1790 Marian lament and its cultural contexts and afterlife. DM us to sign up for our once a month Daily Blethers.

Very much enjoyed the latest Literary Review @asls.org.uk Particularly fascinated by Angus Sutherland’s chapter. As a son of someone in, ‘the worst and lowest’ of farming employment, it was an enlightening history of our region and its socio/political context. Great stuff.

Braw tae catch up wi Paul an record this interview - a young Frenchman wha speaks Scots an scrieves poetry in the leid.

We’re blown away with all the support for our community compilation album. We’ve raised almost £1k so far that will go directly towards buying equipment and instruments for our reopening in the New Year. Still available to download here: lancastermusiccoop.bandcamp.com/album/co-opi...

If you want to hear some incredible new music and support our community cause, check out our new Lancaster Music Coop compilation. Thanks to all involved. Preorder here: lancastermusiccoop.bandcamp.com/album/co-opi... www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Please feel free to share! We want to understand how to better support autistic and or ADHD undergraduate students at UK universities. The entire study team is neurodivergent (as you can imagine we had some excellent meetings!)

I can highly recommend that you do, as the article suggests, listen to this…

Just re-upping this. The world feels very grim at the moment but watching this young, disabled-, queer- and ND-inclusive community grow reminds me things aren't all bad. They're getting closer to opening but any help makes it easier. Non-profit, volunteer-led, general force for good in the world 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️♾️

Huge congratulations to the wonderful @wildtwin.bsky.social on winning this year’s TLS Ackerley Prize for his amazing book, ‘Wild Twin’. Very well deserved sir. Great stuff 👏

A very informative thread and definitely worth reading.

If you could chuck a few bob our way I'd be very grateful. It's an immersive school project. The kids get hands-on experience of the filming process as well. They, and Lancaster Film Institute, are amazing. Please repost/share/bung us! Thanks, you're amazing too, whatever. www.spacehive.com/angeline

I did a book review which appears in the latest edition of The Bottle Imp by @asls.org.uk You can read it here, if you wish. www.thebottleimp.org.uk/2025/06/rava...

@balumcarnes.bsky.social Good to meet you today. Very much enjoyed your talk and input.

@dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social Daphne Hornswog sends her approval and endorsement. Thank you very much for sending the books. We can’t wait to get stuck in. Much appreciated. @k2mey.bsky.social

I’ve been having a wonderful time on a ‘research visit’ in search of James Hogg in the Ettrick Valley. Magical 👌

This event I’m organising with @wildtwin.bsky.social is THIS FRIDAY 23rd May! Read all about it and book tickets here: www.lancasterguardian.co.uk/news/nationa...

Let’s get married

I hardly ever use the notes app on my phone but had cause to do so tonight, and found this, which I have no recollection of writing but wholeheartedly stand by

This is happening next Friday. Lancaster University. Talking all things Wild Twin and the music therein with Andrew Barker. Plus Lancaster Music Co-op bands Guerrilla Biscuits and The Owlys. Join us! @littletollerbooks.bsky.social @derekalanmeins.bsky.social www.trybooking.com/uk/events/la...

Another one bites the dust. I cut my teeth in this place back in the day and it’s really heartbreaking to see this. The enshitification continues across all industries. Thoughts to the team @theleadmill.bsky.social Thanks for all you’ve done over the years.

I’m honoured to be working on this very special event with my friend @wildtwin.bsky.social on Friday 23rd May @lancasteruni.bsky.social Tickets available here: www.trybooking.com/uk/events/la...

@warringtonruncorn.com Hi Gordon. Just wondering what the best email to get you on is?

@scotrefugeecouncil.bsky.social @claremumford.bsky.social 👀👀👀

On Facebook there is a weekly conga where lots of lovely people who donate a tiny bit of money - a £ or two is fine - so that people who are displaced and travelling to find safety can get their phones topped up and stay connected. I don't use FB any more so conga-ing here instead... 💃

Sometimes we try something new. Sometimes it comes out looking like shit. Literally.

On Thursday this week, 5th December, @samkirkham.bsky.social will give the last 50th anniversary lecture of @lancslinguistics.bsky.social: 'Evolving accents: Unravelling the mysteries of sound change'. If you are around Lancaster, sign up here:

Hello everyone! I’m very much one of the ‘sheeple’ who have recently come here. I’ve been reliably informed that I should post something so everyone knows I’m not a bot. I’m not, I promise. That’s probably all I have to say for the next year, so don’t worry 👍🏻

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