Why look at the blackthorn blossom when you can get *in* the blackthorn blossom. And see oddly apropos rubbish.

I don't have the right adjective to describe this bowl of floating flowers and leaves I saw at the garden centre today, but I appreciated it.

The full programme for the SSMLL Annual Conference 2026, Medieval Wales, is now available! Join us 25-26 April at @cardiffuni.bsky.social and online for two days of research exploring the languages and literature of medieval Wales.

'I am interested in how spaces are processual, constantly changing, and in the challenge of how to stage in poetry the co-existence of different and varying pasts of a site.' Meet poet @susiecampbell.bsky.social in our latest Meet a Medievalist Maker blogpost👇

‘No wonder I got drunk that night. I’d been Chaucer for a week!’ - my article on Kipling’s Dayspring Mishandled, his entertaining and peculiar account of a Chaucerian forgery, is out now with the Review of English Studies! I absolutely *loved* working on this. academic.oup.com/res/advance-...

I am speaking on book curses for the Victor Wynd Museum/ The Last Tuesday Society. But if book curses aren't your thing, there's a plethora of other talks on scapulimancy, fish, sin-eating and bonkbusters, to name but a few.

It was a pleasure to talk to English teachers at the @engfacoutreach.bsky.social Teachers' Conference about the Humanities course/ English stream of the Astrophoria Foundation Year at Oxford 💙💜

Our next Making Space session is taking place this Thursday, 5:30pm-7:00pm (GMT) on Zoom! Join us to work on your own creative-critical project, or let your imagination soar with our optional theme: birds 🦚🦢🦅

Delighted to have my beautiful linocut print by @eleanormaybaker.bsky.social in a frame! ‘Salt-in-the-Wound’ is inspired by my poem in Primers Vol 7, ‘The Name of the Father,’ in the voice of Grendel’s Mother, the mere-maid (in Beowulf, she is described as merewif mihtig [mighty mere-woman], 1519).

Outside the Level 2 Reading Room in @bodleian.ox.ac.uk there is a wellbeing display. Here are some it's little zines that genuinely made me smile.

The CFP for the Gender & Medieval Studies conference 2026 is now LIVE! The theme is Gender & Creativity. The conf will be held in Oxford, 8-10 Sept, abstracts due to me by 13 April. Full details on the GMS website (artwork by @hellomizk.bsky.social) medievalgender.co.uk/2026-oxford/

'I’m obsessed with Cromwell’s correspondence – there was just so much of it, and it is incredibly wide ranging.' We're a broad church here at the Guild and enjoy showcasing creative-critical work from the fringes of the medieval period! Read about textile artist @drelvey.bsky.social's work here:

Reminder that the #paperback edition of mine and Hannah Ryley's _Recipes and Book Culture_ can be pre-ordered here: www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10..... There are also 2 #openaccess chapters available on the same site! #research @ulenglish.bsky.social @livunipress.bsky.social

Earlier the week I walked to the busstop in some very atmospheric frost and fog and then spotted some half-frozen jelly ear on my return. Now I have intrusive thoughts about ears full of ice.

It is very cruel that I have to write all of the wrong words in order to get to the right ones.

Our upcoming spring term events are now live on our website and detailed below on our term card! Join us for more Making Space sessions, and our special 1st Birthday celebrations 👇

We are delighted to announce the release of issue 94.1 of Medium Ævum, the journal of the Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature. Medium Ævum (94.1) contains: [1/7]

Calling all fifteenth-century scholars: if you have not yet submitted your proposal for this year's conference hosted by @memsunikent.bsky.social, now is the time to do so. CfP open until 31st January.

Barnabe Rich explaining that "bookes are like cheese"

Calling anyone interested in saints, sanctity, and the weird and wonderful world of primary sources outside the conventional hagiography form! ❤️‍🔥

Many are returning to their laptops today, but we have a candle to hold up in the dark and cold! Join us this Thursday for our special Making Space Session: Creative Intention Setting for 2026. 🕯️ Bring yourself, any creative materials you fancy, and your favourite mug of something warm.

1777: Dark & thawing, frost, snow on the ground. Larks congregate. Roads hard, & beaten.

Lyle's Golden Syrup have brought out a tote bag, but its with their new logo. Do one with the swarm of bees around a festering corpse of a lion, you cowards.

Early January stuff.

A couple of days ago @robertculshaw.bsky.social proposed and I said yes 🍂

Six cranberry and orange shortbread geese a-laying for each of my neighbours.

I have decided that I want to dress exclusively like popular white male tv presenters from 2000s/2010s middle class programming. I want the chore jacket, natural fibre look. I want to look like I could make you a good homemade chutney and know what a cantilever is.

New post, in which I talk about the Old English poem “The Wanderer” and the place of empathy in interpretation. nikolasgunn.co.uk/2025/12/19/t...

Inscription 6 on cuts/tears ft. academic articles + art by Dave Beech, Stephen Emmerson, Lucio Fontana, Jo Hamill, Simon Morris, Buzz Spector, Carolyn Thompson, Patrick Wildgust, Steven Zultanski. Cover: Abigail Reynolds' St Paul’s Advance copies: inscriptionjournal.com/how-to-buy/

New beginnings can be exciting, but also a little daunting. To help ease into your creative-critical mindset of 2026, we warmly welcome you to join us for a special Making Space Session: Creative Intention Setting for 2026! ⏰5:30-7:00pm GMT 📅Thurs, 8th Jan 2026 📍Zoom

An exciting symposium featuring many of our Guild members is taking place early next year!👇 🖋️'Creative Medievalisms Now: Writing the Middle Ages Today and Tomorrow' 📍Faculty of English, University of Cambridge 📅Thurs 15th Jan- Fri 16th Jan, 2026

I enjoy the William of Newburgh's accounts of the Green Children of Woolpit and revenants as much as the next person, but I my attention is always caught by his entry describing the finding of a beautiful double-stone in a quarry, which is struck open to reveal a toad wearing a golden chain.

In our initial discussions about the Guild we thought we'd be doing well if we gathered a community of 20 medievalists in our first year. We now have over 100! None of it would have been possible without the outstanding @drlauravarnam.bsky.social and @hellomizk.bsky.social (whose comics are below).

The Centre for Public Engagement Practice in Arts and Humanities is inviting academic researchers in the arts, humanities & social sciences to collaborate with community groups as part of a new community-led grant. The pilot will run from January to May 2026. Info here: www.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...

Printing little Christmas cards of the Green Knight's 'holyn bobbe' 🌲

Finally went to see the legendary @magpielane-oxford.bsky.social for their Christmas concert, and they were predictably amazing! An obligatory merch purchase was made, of course.

Interested in connections between #history & #CreativeWriting / #poetry? @ihr.bsky.social is seeking a Creative Practitioner in Residence for 2026. £1000 monthly stipend, opportunities for collaboration & developing projects. Happy to have a chat! Please share: www.history.ac.uk/fellowships-...

Another super fun project I’ve contributed to this year is a French comics anthology by doctoral students who also make comics. It has been such a fun experience to contribute to the first volume and I have so many ideas for future editions! Get your copy here: fr.ulule.com/limposteur/

Happy birthday to the best cow scratcher and piglet botherer this side of Oxford, @robertculshaw.bsky.social 🐖

Write an essay to win £500 📝 Just over a week to go to enter your essay proposals to the Gordon Duff Prize. This opportunity is open to all University of Cambridge members. Deadline for proposals: 19 December 2025 Find out more: https://loom.ly/xZZOdOc

Every rainy spring day: 'The apparition of these faces in the crowd: petals on a wet, black bough'

'What are we looking for when we pick up a “reimagined classic” or a “bold and subversive retelling” of a centuries-old tale?' Our latest Meet a Medievalist Maker post is by @sarafredman.bsky.social, author of 'Griselda is Dead, and Also Her Patience', a reimagining of Chaucer’s 'Clerk's Tale'👇

Attention creative medievalists! Eleanor Barraclough & I are co-editing a special issue of Public Humanities entitled CREATING THE MEDIEVAL NOW! See the cfp for details: essays of 2,000-3,000 words due 1 May 2026. (Amazing artwork by @hellomizk.bsky.social). 1/ www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

'No, we should not curse the winter - and December least of all.'

Booking is now open for Making Medieval Manuscripts! A practice-based course where we make ink, cut quills, illuminate, make pigments and bookbind, using #medieval techniques and materials. We also explore early medieval art. No experience necessary! #bookhistory ies.sas.ac.uk/study-traini...

1776: White frost, grey, frost all day, grey, frost.

I confessed to @adamwithbooks.bsky.social and everyone should watch. Particularly Part 3, which is my favourite.

After only eight months of existence, we are delighted to announce that the Guild of Medievalist Makers has gained its ✨100th Guild Member✨! We have lots of exciting plans for the development of the Guild, but in the meantime, why not join us for tomorrow's Making Space session?🍻

I'm currently re-reading George Eliot's Adam Bede after vaguely remembering it from undergraduate. I cannot stop thinking about Adam Bede. All I want to do is read Adam Bede. I have no expertise in it, nor do I have anything profound to say about it, but boy am I full of the joys of Adam Bede.