The Traitors’ Lion

It's the US release date of my book TOO DARN HOT, the first dedicated academic text on the messy classic musical Kiss Me, Kate. So excited for it to be out in the world. UK release in August 😃

We're thrilled to present the shortlist for the 2026 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction:

Petition against redundancies at Exeter. Humanities and Social Sciences staff are hardest hit, with 25% of posts in subjects including History, English, Modern Languages and Politics slated to be cut.

Ok, look, what's been particularly infuriating about the redundancies at Exeter (and Nottingham and Newcastle and and and) is this weird idea that it only affects those individuals and institutions. It harms us all because we are so closely interconnected.

Asian! Pirate! Musical! 28 July to 2 August in London! join us for our first full run - tiny.cc/APMgatehouse tell your crew! tell your friends!!

Me and my book photo saw you from across the bar

The only improvement I have seen myself is the wait for NHS appointments is less dire but you know pales in comparison to supporting genocide, vile transphobia, taking support from the disabled, demonising asylum seekers, their clear heirarchy of racism…

Stumbled upon an entire album of Philip Glass' 3 Pieces in the Shape of a Square that was meant for two flutes and arranged here for saxophones but being performed by a trumpet (??) and how weird to discover an album that seems like it was specifically created just for you.

Back making things…

Good morning from Nottingham! We will be reporting on Nottingham Trans Pride today at 11:00 - Although a few people are already beginning to turn up at Sneinton Market. 🔴🧵 Live thread below

Back at on my #readcaribbean journey!

it’s really weird that people are celebrating the Andy Burnham win when he’s basically said he’s not gonna stop the rightward shift of the Labour Party maybe I’m a killjoy but I’m an immigrant with trans friends so…like what are WE in particular supposed to be celebrating exactly?

"Tell Jabba I'll get him his money..."

A real honour to be asked to give the Agnes Flues Annual Memorial Lecture - Wednesday 24 June, 2-4pm. Hybrid - online details in link. I’ll be going bold and talking about ‘How we win’. www.tickettailor.com/events/uonuc...

Back on this - I REALLY need policy makers to look at the context of only children who are also latchkey kids. And when boomers yell “read a book”, I will tell you that reading 200+ books a year thanks to living near a less spotted library did nothing for my socialisation.

Welcome to St. Paradise, pulsing with blood magic, where clan secrets and shifting allegiances rule the land and where two clan heirs are about to cross paths, transforming the city's future forever... Eclipse & the Wolf, an epic fantasy from Akwaeke Emezi out 11/02 🌑🐺 linktr.ee/eclipseandthewolf

Imagine if we just: 1) fined companies that don’t have real people moderating content for harm 2) regulated the financial model around child influencers and family-focused content that centres kids 3) underwrote non-digital spaces for young people to enjoy and socialise in

Love and commiserations to everyone @uonucu.bsky.social finishing an alternative business case this week. May your drinks be hydrating, your sleep deep, and your calculations “realistic”, not “speculative” despite having next to none of the data 🙂

Life on fire Career on fire Hair on fire

Fandom Encyclopedia: I’m seeking authors for 1000-word entries in a forthcoming Pop Culture Fandoms encyclopedia, published by Bloomsbury Press. Please email 200-300 word abstracts to [email protected] by Aug 30, 2026!

A crime novel set in contemporary London began by describing a car journey the wrong direction round a one-way system. I persisted long enough to check this wasn’t some kind of clever device. It was not.

My gf has roped a load of churches into getting their members to collect a load of food that can then be distributed to those who need it across Belfast. Many are afraid to leave their houses, even to get food. People have been delivering food to strangers since this started.

Much as I like Pride & Prejudice I find it impossible to deny that this is the greatest review of it of all time

Just watched my black lab walk over, sneeze on my Rotweiller’s face and run away. So rude.

That awkward moment when you are on a hugely delayed train and you accidentally sit opposite a person you once shared perhaps the worst date ever with and what should have been an 11-minute awkwardness becomes a 45-minute awkwardness

What’s your sign?

When is too early to use the industrial staple gun in the garden on a Sunday? Asking for an ADHD-er who is definitely in a fine state of mental wellbeing 🙂

“Do you, Peter Phillips, take NHS Nurse to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

One thing about the phonetic alphabet, if you are dyslexic, Sierra is an automatic brain scramble 🤣

Former CBeebies Star Unrecognisable from Late 2000s Pomp after Decade-and-Half of Hedonism.

💭 🎬 L'artiste franco-iranienne Marjane Satrapi, qui s'est fait mondialement connaître avec la bande dessinée et le film "Persepolis", est décédée à l'âge de 56 ans, a annoncé son entourage jeudi à l'AFP.

Our book recommendation for Pride Month? Lessons in Drag by Kareem Khubchandani! The Lambda Literary Awards are among the most prestigious awards honoring LGBTQ+ literature, and we couldn’t be happier to see this book earn the recognition it deserves.

Look, plantar fascitis sucks but I think this guy has bigger issues going on

What can we learn about queer lives and queer history from the call logs of the UK's first LGBTQ+ helpline? @tashwalker.bsky.social and @adamzmith.bsky.social discuss their award-winning podcast The Log Books with @marybethhamilton13.bsky.social 🎙️

Beginning the set-up for the four tarot readings selected so far. I’ve also picked up three star charts, a grant peer review, and a short story. Do consider donating to @ucu.org.uk @uonucu.bsky.social’s fundraiser. There’s never been a more crucial time to stand in solidarity.

Lying under a fan during a UK heatwave, cursing the sun, while promoting a queer horror book about Britain’s collapse during a climate apocalypse. I really need to write about nice things so they can come true instead. In the meantime, you can preorder here! www.amazon.co.uk/This-World-E... 📚💙

Put your money where your mouth is: June 24th at the Houses of Parliament - mass lobby for trans rights organised by @transsolidarity.bsky.social. You can absolutely do this - please, we need you.

Two tarot readings, one star chart, and a fairytale retelling already redeemed. Woo! Please help me to support my amazing colleagues. 🩷

As cuts destroy our university... We fight back ✊🏼💜🩷💜🩷 #WeAreTheUniversity @uonucu.bsky.social @ucu.org.uk

Very sad to be on #UCUstrike action today at #NottinghamUni. A university only functions through goodwill, and academic staff are not the enemies that UEB seem determined to think they are. Since Future Nottingham 1 gutted administrative staff, academic staff have increasingly picked up their 1/?

#RunningPicket @uonucu.bsky.social @ucu.org.uk #WeAreTheUniversity

SKILLS FOR SOLIDARITY! @uonucu.bsky.social are on an Assessment Boycott + related strike action. I am on externally funded leave and have no marking so I am raising fighting funds. Please share + donate! DM with proof of payment to redeem your item. Link here: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding...

East Asian Studies is being gutted at Sheffield - all staff at risk with 8.6 FTE proposed to go (a third of us). Biggest cuts in Chinese and Japanese Studies. We’ll be taking a few days to process. Solidarity to Materials and Chemistry colleagues who are also dealing with similarly bad news.

I'm writing a book about musicals, I say. Ooh, what did you do today?, you ask. ...

Lot of destruction and negativity in my life rn so I continue to indulge my ADHD whims to make over the garden of a Sunday

The largest single offering on the table was a golden honey-crusted confection of latticed pastry, with mintcream and candied chestnuts oozing from it onto a bed of purple plums.

We do not need panel discussions about the "dismantling of Black Studies." Cross the street and ask the local church if you can run a Black Studies Saturday school in their basement for interested community members.

That list is inevitably light on genre fiction but the absence of The Fifth Season makes me extremely sad