Wonderful book. I’m lost in these stories of ancient history. I wouldn’t have known about this book but for my Toppings subscription- they always choose well!

We are so far through the looking glass that the man who tried to overthrow an election becomes president, the people who attacked the Capitol are turned into martyrs, & it's the BBC that gets punished - cheered on by the worst news outlets in the UK & the two most dishonest politicians of our age.

Be clear, the American far right are coming for British democracy.

Happy lost cat news!

Thanks to an enduring cost of living crisis and the imminence of Christmas, it's my duty to tell you that my latest book is basically half price right now. Stocking fillers for all. #booksky www.amazon.co.uk/Broken-Biscu...

30 million dead, The Somme, painting created by Mary Bishop 1976 in the art therapy studio at Netherne hospital where she was compelled to live. Aged 4 when her father was killed in WWI, the reverberations of his death & her mother’s vast grief traumatised & distressed Mary for the rest of her life

Chris Packham on the political shift on climate change: “It’s no secret that the fossil fuel companies are funding Reform and The Conservatives - that’s a fact. These people are either denying something extremely dangerous or they’re puppet-ing it for their paymasters” #bbclaurak

Charles Hamilton Sorley was killed at the Battle of Loos in 1915, aged 20. A pencilled manuscript of his poem “When You See Millions of the Mouthless Dead” was found in his kit after his death. Andrew O’Hagan recites the poem in this clip from 2014 #RemembranceSunday www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p...

Actually, Mr. Potato Head was the name of the inventor

"Stella lounged against a cocktail cabinet whose glass frontage was engraved with the outline of a naked woman. I'm not going to be cowed, she thought. Not by nipples." Bliss to be indoors on a rainy day reading my new favourite author. Thank you @dauntbookspub.bsky.social for this wonderful proof!

New on the blog today, I've written about CROOKED CROSS by Sally Carson. A brilliant, terrifying novel about the rise of Nazism, the falling apart of a country’s codes of decency & the moral fortitude required to oppose persecution. Frighteningly timely. 💙📚 jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2025/11/09/c...

First landing for Voloshin! And in what hands! People, you know I don’t ask for much. Do me a favor: get a copy. It’s my pride and joy.

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... This was a great listen on the history of Jodrell Bank and the composition of a classical piece to commemorate it.

& the sun inconstant, coming & going in patternless interludes - rainbows blaze & fade above patrols of grey heron - & as it steadies to leave picks out corvids wheeling to roost

A gentle reminder that if you sign up for my online course 'What Can A Short Story Do?' by 30th Nov you get a 10% Early Bird discount! 🦜 #ShortStory #BookSky #WritingWorkshop

We are delighted to be supporting the W&A Working-Class Writers' Prize 2025 with @writersandartists.bsky.social @ruppin.bsky.social, @societyofauthors.bsky.social and @openuniversity.bsky.social Submissions open on 1st November 2025. www.writersandartists.co.uk/about-wa-wor... PLEASE SHARE

One of the things I appreciate most about living in Norfolk is the fact that it induces a near-constant state of bewilderment. 1/3

Interested in how to live a more conscious creative life? Take a closer look with our dedicated #ConsciousWritingMonth reading list featuring books by our speakers and titles to help you life a more ethically engaged life as a creative artist. All on UK Bookshop.org @bookshop-org-uk.bsky.social

It has been a great autumn for crossbills in #Fife with hundreds seen in the bigger forests and smaller parties roaming across the county #nature #crossbills #birding

‪There's still time to sign up for @pippagoldschmidt.bsky.social's A Personal Anthology, her pick of and introduction to a dozen favourite short stories. Hitting inboxes at 2pm. Sign up here: apersonalanthology.substack.com/about

#TurtleDiary is real! 😍

A gentle reminder that if you sign up for my online course 'What Can A Short Story Do?' by 30th Nov you get a 10% Early Bird discount! 🦜 #ShortStory #BookSky #WritingWorkshop

Really enjoyed this fascinating mould-breaking memoir - exploring, among many things - what can't be known, what can't be expressed, and (basically) the meaning of life. Wonderful.

Your quick reminder that the reason the NHS is in this state is specifically because of what politicians have done. The NHS isn’t useless. The model isn’t defunct. Politicians have actively under-resourced our public healthcare system. It’s a travesty. 🚨 www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...

My new blog post on one of the best books I've read this year - INDEPENDENT PEOPLE by Haldór Laxness. Translated from the Icelandic by J.A. Thompson. 🐑❄️👻 readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2025/11/07/i...

My new series - Empire With David Olusoga - starts 9pm on BBC Two. Whole series on @bbciplayer.bsky.social from tonight.

The world’s first trillionaire initiated a move that has left more than half a million people dead, most of whom are children.

Argh fuck no don't www.aboutamazon.com/news/books-a...

Now we know where all that Spotify money is going. Not to the artists - perish the thought. No, the CEO has invested it all in AI weaponry designed to kill humans. I wish this were a joke. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...

The Illinois Short Fiction series published by the U. of Illinois Press between 1975 and 1993 gave dozens of mostly first-time writers a chance to publish collections.🧵

A major protest has been held outside the offices of Grand Theft Auto developers Rockstar Games in Edinburgh, after more than 30 staff were allegedly sacked for trade union activity.

Dunno what's wrong with me but if I saw a restaurant called Dan's Fecal Stew I would absolutely go in.

Wild wild wild. Looking Down at the Stars surfaces today. If you buy it thank you I hope you like it 🪸

In tribute to the late Tony Harrison, BBC Radio 4 will be rebroadcasting this 2013 feature on v., his controversial long poem. Tony Harrison read the poem in full, and writer Blake Morrison discussed the poem's impact. Tune in at 11pm tonight, 6 Nov, or listen later. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...

Congratulations to @cdrose.bsky.social for his @goldsmithsprize.bsky.social win with We Live Here Now! You can read his Personal Anthology picks, here - couple of seasonal specials and then a typically idiosyncratic Anthology of his own! apersonalanthology.com/category/cd-...

'mean-spirited'

Day 5 of #NovellasInNovember is Victoria MacKenzie's electrifying debut FOR THY GREAT PAIN HAVE MERCY ON MY LITTLE PAIN which centres on the spiritual journeys of anchorite and mystic, Julian of Norwich, and the English pilgrim Margery Kempe. Brief, miraculous, gorgeous prose #BookSky #LitFic

What I'm currently reading: The Vanishing Man, by Laura Cumming. When in London recently, I bought this at the National Gallery. I’ve been wanting it since @john-self.bsky.social and @jacquiwine.bsky.social recommended it. Wonderfully written and just what I'm wanting on these early November nights.

@cdrose.bsky.social is the 2025 Goldsmiths Prize winner!!! So, so well deserved ❤️🏆 Read WE LIVE HERE NOW! @goldsmithsprize.bsky.social

This is absolutely appalling. "The UK will not contribute to a flagship fund for the world’s remaining tropical forests, in a bitter blow to the Brazilian hosts on the eve of the Cop30 climate summit." Absolutely pathetic. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Anne Carson, Plainwater

Next week, on 13 November, join Alberto Manguel at the John Rylands Library in Manchester for the first annual Rylands Lecture! The event is free, but requires a ticket. For more information, see here:⬇️ www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-ryland...

“The true and durable path into and through experience involves being true … to your own solitude, true to your own secret knowledge.” Some of the best life-advice ever put into words, from one of humanity's best poets www.themarginalian.org/2016/01/19/s...

Had genuinely forgotten how hard it is to write a novel.

This might be the best email I’ve ever received.

Here’s Karine Polwart singing Hamish Henderson’s “Freedom Come-All-Ye” in the Italian Chapel, Orkney. The chapel was built & decorated by Italian POWs during WW2 using scraps & reclaimed materials, & is still in use today www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Phu...

A morning for a kitchen dance

Radiant and intimate, Bread of Angels is the first full memoir from legendary artist and writer Patti Smith, author of the National Book Award winner Just Kids. [Sponsored] bookshop.org/p/books/brea...