I'm talking about Anna Laetitia Barbauld again tomorrow! 🗣️🗣️🗣️York Georgian Society lecture: more details here: www.georgianyork.org.uk/events-1/ann...

The enthusiasm for #History at this year's #HistDay25 is considerable and palpable. History's popularity and appeal is an asset we must work with to better demonstrate the personal, professional, civic and social value of historical knowledge and understanding. @ihr.bsky.social #Skystorians

BARS News: Submit your proposals for Spring 2026 BARS Digital Events! We are looking for 90-minute roundtables of four or five speakers, at least one of whom should be an ECR of PhD student. 250-word abstracts due 7th January 2026. www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=6207

Feeling glum about the world? In need of some writerly brilliance abt classic film? Read this by @noragilbert.bsky.social "This is the part of the 'gaslighting' origin story that people who haven’t watched Gaslight don’t tend to know about: the part of the story where the gaslit victim pushes back."

Three turnstones just hanging out on the harbour wall

Pure pastoral

Very much looking forward to reading this given my joint interests in Literature and the medical sciences. Really interesting to me that the origins of the English word 'Empathy' (which I write about often) lie in the German concept of Einfühlung.

THIS EVENING!

Making my way through entries for the Ulster Scots Literary Competition run by Belfast's Linen Hall Library-the former Belfast Literary Society- and every year I'm reminded what a privilege it is to judge these pieces.Poetry, language, ideas, twists and turns, going against the grain. It's all here.

Anton is the kind of leader who makes me proud to be an alum of Glasgow.

Also on the shortlist for Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year is my former PhD student Gráinne O'Hare @spacedolphin93.bsky.social for her debut novel "Thirst Trap": www.irishbookawards.ie/2025-shortli...

Come meet us (@stephholtnh.bsky.social included!) at the Natural History museum next month for specimens, travels, and digital humanities!

Join us for the online launch of The People of Print: Eighteenth-Century England, a collection of biographical essays about lesser-known figures from 18C book history! The event is free to attend but booking is essential: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/book-launc... #18thC #18c #18thCentury #BookHistory

Speaking online/in-person tomorrow (17:15 UK Time) @oxfordceltic.bsky.social @jesusoxford.bsky.social on Iolo Morganwg's anti-slavery poetry and the slippery metaphor of enslavement in C18th radical Celticism Email David Willis if you want a Teams link! talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/2dc...

People who have come to the United Kingdom legally, played by the rules and made it their home do not need to “go home”. This is their home. I've written to Kemi Badenoch to give her the chance to reject these divisive calls from her frontbencher Katie Lam.

It doesn't matter how many times I teach James Orr's 'The Irish Cottier's Death and Burial', every time I get a lump in my throat. He manages to capture the pain of bereavement and community annihilation without falling prey to sentimentality. (1/3)

Enjoying Dave Mearns's work at the moment: 'We create “lace curtains and safety screens” to hide from others and, in collusion with others, we develop restrictive norms to ensure that in our relating we minimise the possibility of meeting each other freely."

Have reached that stage of sleep deprivation-induced exhaustion that I was listening to Jack White's 'Morning, Noon and Night' and caught myself thinking, 'Oh, that sounds really like The White Stripes' 😶‍🌫️

Gives you a little faith in the British public

Fellowship Opportunity for ECRs: The Byron Society Fellow Focussing on digital promotion activities, with a £2500 annual stipend. www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=6197

We would love YOU to write for the BARS Blog! If you have an idea for the blog or for our TikTok/Instagram channel, then please do get in touch! www.bars.ac.uk/blog/ More info ⤵️

"From this summer's International Flann O'Brien Society conference in Strabane ."

BARS News: Independent Researcher Bursary Call for Applications Independent researchers with an interest in any aspect of Romantic Studies (literature, architecture, art, politics, culture, history etc) are invited to apply for the Independent Researcher Bursary.  www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=6189

Join us on 12 November for a @bars.bsky.social Digital Event to celebrate the publication of Volume IV of The Complete Poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley (gen. eds. @fraistat.bsky.social & Nora Crook, pub. by @hopkinspress.bsky.social) 🍂 Free tickets available here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/shelleys-a...

Just going to remind you that you can find this useful introduction to the work women were doing in the early Gothic here! Come hear me talk about the diverse work women were undertaking in all aspects of the Gothic youtu.be/ZYXmHoErwL8

The John Galt Society welcomes applications for a grant (of up to ₤1000) to defray expenses incurred in connection with research into the works, life or influence of John Galt. Deadline: 31 January 2026. More information: thejohngaltsociety.com/research-gra...

BARS 2026 Panel Session Calls Listed below are calls for panel contributions for the 2026 Conference. If you would like to send out a similar call for contributions, please write to the conference organisers at: [email protected] www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=6187

My sincere gratitude to BARS for the Open Fellowship, which enabled really vital archival research for my current book project! Read about what I got up to in the blog post linked to below.

BARS Independent Scholar bursary is now open: www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=6189

‪ Every single artist nominated this year for the #MercuryMusicPrize2025 is so deserving but how fitting that wor Sam has been honored on home turf. He’s made North Shields and the wider region so proud. 🖤🤍🖤🤍

Reminder: BARS 2026 CFP can be found here: Deadline Sunday 30 November. www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=6101

A short clip from Leonard and Hungry Paul for those who want a quick peek before tomorrow night. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p...

The book isn’t out until January in Ireland and March in the States, but if you’d like a copy eventually here is the pre-order discount code. I’ll share it again and have some launches planned in Bellaghy, Belfast and Dublin for late Feb/ early March. Do come along, I’d be glad to see you.

Volcanic Romanticism!! 🌋On a Thursday evening with @bars.bsky.social ! What could be more thrilling? Please join me, @dilarakalkan.bsky.social Chloe Melvin, Katerina Liontou and @davidhiggins.bsky.social on 30th October at 7.30pm to discuss the weather of 1816, the Diodati Circle, and more!

This is the best story I’ve read in months and really lifted my spirits: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

We are excited to announce the publication of our Summer 2025 issue, which includes essays by Hilary Havens, Greta Colombani, and David Mullins. The issue is available Open Access on Project Muse @projectmuse.bsky.social : muse.jhu.edu/issue/55681. Details in the thread.

Call for Papers: British Society for Literature and Science (@thebsls.bsky.social) 21st Annual Conference, University of Strathclyde, 9th-11th April 2026. 200-word abstracts due by 12th December 2025. www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=6183

CfP: Romantic Elements: Rocks, and Stones, and Soil, 1750–1850, Symposium at The University of Manchester, 25–26 June 2026. Deadline 30th January 2026. www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=6185

'A new briefing from MillionPlus, which represents modern UK universities, highlights the economic benefits of “loyals” – a category of graduates who grow up, study and work in the same region.' And degree options of "loyals" are shrinking: see @britishacademy.bsky.social Cold Spots data & report.

Unfortunately true. As we call it in network science, 'preferential attachment'

See "Rituals of Migration: Italians and Irish on the Move" edited by @kevinkenny.bsky.social and @irpinaingiro.bsky.social -- the latest book in the Glucksman Irish Diaspora Series @nyupress.bsky.social @tedsmyth.bsky.social

We are delighted to announce the first seminar in our 25/26 series: the wonderful @drreznicek.bsky.social will be presenting on ‘Too Bodily: Disability, Care, & Belonging in Romantic Novels’ on Wednesday 29th October at 6pm. Free! Online! All welcome! Register here: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

We will soon be announcing a new Fellowship through the British Association for Romantic Studies which supportsthe work of independent researchers. It's a tight deadline but if you fall into this category or know anyone who does, watch this space @bars.bsky.social

4x4-year, fully-funded PhD opportunities to work with an interdisciplinary group at Trinity College Dublin 2026-2030. One of these is to work with me on a public history and cultural heritage PhD, in collaboration with one of Dublins most interesting neighbourhoods. www.tcd.ie/graduatestud...

📣 It’s research seminar day! Join us at 5pm to welcome Dr Rachael King (UC Santa Barbara) who will present a paper titled ‘Care Networks in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Archives’. 🗓️ Tuesday 14 October, 5.00pm 📍 HG/09, Heslington Hall More info: www.york.ac.uk/eighteenth-c...

Sad to hear this via Jane Fonda overnight. One of a generation of absolute Queens whom I grew up watching and admiring. According to Fonda, Keaton was very modest about her own acting talent in spite of winning the Oscar.

Durham Miners' Gala: how mining banners helped shape communities past and present. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Victorian shipwreck heroine Grace Darling's shawl for auction. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"Sometimes being unsafe is a great place to start to explore together" - Dr David Treleaven in a recent talk about trauma and the idea of expanding the window of tolerance. He sympathises greatly with teaching staff...(1/3)