And Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, where the shadows lie, One Tim to rule them all, One Tim to find them, One Tim to bring them all, and in the darkness, bind them.

🎄Merry Christmas! 🎄 Baby boomers are a crime wave disguised as a generation

It is the winter solstice tomorrow (in the northern hemisphere) this is your reminder that English Heritage live stream the sun rising over Stonehenge on their YouTube channel from 7.30am tomorrow morning. www.youtube.com/live/FEnQmoc...

Lonely carrot seeks snowman.

The @histchild.bsky.social conference is coming to the @sheffielduni.bsky.social in July 2026. Call for papers has been extended until Monday 22nd December. Please share - especially with research students and ECRs! www.histchild.org/pages/sheffi...

Dying malls are among the most uncanny liminal spaces...

As part of the Inspiring Voices poetry festival (for ages 11-25), English Heritage have shared these fab story dice as poetry prompts. Even if you aren't entering the competition, these are a fun way to spark a new poem inspired by heritage and history! storydice.english-heritage.org.uk

I am SEETHING with rage at the suggestion that Muppets do not have souls and I - as a often cited expert on ghosts - have set the record straight. I will fight people on this. www.theghostgeek.com/p/in-defence...

A thoughtful piece on the Girl Guiding trans ban with some comments by me. tfn.scot/news/long-re...

Ewww. Nope.

Tree full of angry cats at the Christmas Tree Festival.

are we still on about em dashes and ai. imo human writers should just use the em dashes even harder. we should be out here pummeling out those em dashes like we're emily dickinson

Doug my beloved.

Huge congratulations to Steve Roud on being awarded a honorary degree by The Open University in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the study of folk song and culture!

We're launching our in-person #folklore #writing group for #TUOS PGRs, ECRs and staff writing academically / creatively on folklore themes. Taster session 10-11.30am, 14 November, Doctoral School Centre (by Jessop West). No need to register! contemporaryfolklore.sites.sheffield.ac.uk/centre-activ...

Flying visit to the #Research Arcade in @sheffieldmuseums.bsky.social Sheffield to catch up with some amazing projects from @sheffielduni.bsky.social and @sheffieldhallamuni.bsky.social . Brilliant to see @sabinelittle.bsky.social and the beautiful Quilt of Welcome coming together.

We',re experiencing a local explosion in #Penny for the #Guy - there were 3 outside our shops this week. My own kids were inspired to have a go lured by riches but hit a new snag of the cashless society 😂🎆🔥 #folklore

Had a lot of fun and revisited some old frights writing this seasonal piece on scary books for children for @uk.theconversation.com ! #Halloween theconversation.com/scary-storie...

Cover by Pete Costanza.

I will never stop being tired of Digital Humanities professors who never approach archivists as peers deeming fit to tell archivists how and why to do their jobs differently. It happens time and time again, rarely with a spirit of collaboration and often with an uncomfortable tech-disruptor energy

Folklorist Job Alert! University of London seeks a part time PDRA on Project Storymachine, which aims to preserve, explore and increase access to folklore in Germany and the UK through digital infrastructure. Application details here: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOY261/p...

CFP! Journal of Festive Studies is inviting abstracts for an issue on TINY/giant: Playing with Scale. Themes include giant puppets, toy theatres, effigies for celebration or excoriation, miniature collectibles... Deadline 15 Nov, more info here: networks.h-net.org/group/announ...

Oh fuck off

Lovely day with newer researchers at @folkloretodmorden.bsky.social presenting on folk group identities with @drjuliabish.bsky.social on behalf of the @cfrc-folklore.bsky.social, zine making and exploring our folklore origin stories! Thanks Holly and the FLS @folkloresociety.bsky.social.

Seeing folks say that the rise and normalisation of the alt-right in the UK is because of the US and while I think the UK’s fascists are taking a lot of inspiration by the US’s tactics and aesthetics, it would be really cool for you Brits to also own up to the fact that this shit is also homegrown.

Empathy is our greatest strength.

Looking forward to our paper @drjuliabish.bsky.social @mariamyamin.bsky.social on finding folksong in the NATCECT #Archives of Cultural Tradition @uoscollections.bsky.social for this brilliant conference!

I’ve had some deeply sobering conversations recently about how arts and education organisations across the country are actively preparing for how they’ll navigate life under a Reform MP/ Council/ Govt. This story from Notts feels like a harbinger of things to come www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Save the date! Saturday 4 October is a Black British Folk Renaissance and you are invited. I’ve nurtured this idea for a few years now, so I’m thrilled that @efdss.bsky.social will be hosting it at @cecilsharphouse.bsky.social See you there! 🖤 www.efdss.org/whats-on/26-...

New wheels (not the white van) courtesy of my lovely bloke who surprised me with a whole car for my birthday next month #Saab

“If we stop producing people who are trained or educated to help undergraduates understand the most important things thought or written or painted in human history, we might not be able to recover that.” www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...

No, I'm sorry, I can't come back to work, I haven't finished helping Princess Zelda save the Kingdom of Hyrule. Thanks in advance for your understanding in this matter.

#Folklorists against fascism.

Ok. "Starting this Sunday, Extinction Rebellion’s Dirty Water Campaign is launching the World Water Wedding...for people to pledge their troth [hand in marriage] to protect rivers and water bodies across the country" "Actions will [include] hand-fastings & other commitment ceremonies on riverbanks"

Coming Nov 2025 - our new ✨ 'Writing Folklore' ✨ group! A space for creative and academic #Folklore writing led by Ella Ruby Self @local-sea-wytch.bsky.social, Abbi Flint @draflint.bsky.social and @cathbannister1.bsky.social. Join us on TUOS campus for community and creativity. More details soon! ✒️👨‍💻

Kiruna church is in the news today for being on the move. I mention this in my poem 'Midnight Sun at Abisko', published in the Consilience anthology Field Notes Volume 1 (excerpt below) www.consilience-journal.com/field-notes

Off to the East Coast tomorrow for my hols, and thanks to a hot tip from @davidwclarke.bsky.social, a spot of werewolf hunting. theconversation.com/why-we-shoul...

Like Jeremy Corbyn and Sophie Ellis-Bextor, I grew up in Woodcraft Folk. Here’s how it changes children’s lives | Phineas Harper

looking forward to being part of the Newer Researchers in #Folklore event on 26 Sept alongside amazing experts at @folkloretodmorden.bsky.social There's still places for this free day of Folklore Studies workshops @folkloresociety.bsky.social @herts.ac.uk www.folkloremythmagic.com/event-detail...

the trick is the scientist has to be having secret lunch dates with a poet, where they eat plums and cheese, and he’ll look at the plum, then the poet, then BAM he’ll just know it doesn’t work any other way, everyone knows this

So...who was going to tell me that Brownies has a #Folklore badge?!!! www.girlguiding.org.uk/what-we-do/o...

Brilliant @cfrc-folklore.bsky.social member Ella Ruby Self @local-sea-wytch.bsky.social will be In Conversation with the Society of Young Publishers about her debut novel, 30 Aug at The Mowbray, Sheffield, if any of you would like to pop along and hear about her folklore-inspired writing!

Wish I could get my #fandom badge. I've absolutely earned it #girlguiding 🏴‍☠️☠️ www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Heading back to my happy place.

I've been lured out of hiding by a mate to check out the Sheffield event @stoneclub.bsky.social. Feeling very old and definitely not down with the folk kids about this so please say hi to your Nanna if you see me.

It makes sense then that #fanfic #writers were among the first creators to raise the alarm about their work being fed into learning language models powering generative #AI without their knowledge or permission. www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...

I am so excited for this workshop!

Sums up me opening an email today pretty well.

Really looking forward to this @cfrc-folklore.bsky.social online #storytelling workshop. Finally, a space where talking to myself dramatically is encouraged! Still places available for 16th July if you want to join in! Free on Eventbrite.

This is my Coca Cola Christmas Truck #Halloweeniscoming