I did some writing again

Nederlanders: Als jullie weten wat dit 'paradijsvogel' is, kunnen jullie me erover vertellen? Ik ben absoluut in de waar.

In my Dutch lesson last night the teacher tried to explain the figure of the 'paradijsvogel', not literally a Bird of Paradise but the woman in brightly coloured clothes and hair, who enthusiastically tells stories in the street. Hoe zeg je dit in Engels, she asked, and we were all like: WHAT.

If you like the look of this, you'll probably want to get yourself a copy here: store.nottingham.ac.uk/product-cata...

I was a judge on this, and I can confirm that I judge this book to be an absolute banger

Recommend 'The Literary Lifeline', by (my colleague) Kevin Harvey, on reading groups, libraries, 'bibliotherapy', & more. There's sometimes a glib assumption that reading is "good for you" in a strange medicinal way, and Kevin really unpacks that idea properly. www.bloomsbury.com/us/discover/...

brass solidarity band performing “stand by me” in the streets of whittier next to alex pretti’s memorial. the crowd started chanting “the people united will never be defeated” so they incorporated it into the song. i love minneapolis

There is still time to get your hands on a copy before Christmas.

Whatever my uni declares, I am not going to engage with AI. I am not going to use AI or teach students to use it. I am going to continue to explain to students why it is harmful. Absolutely absurd to allow this anti-intellectual, environmentally devastating technology into the university at all.

‘You Who Wronged’ by Czesław Milosz. For some reason or other this poem came to mind this morning. Written in a time of tyrants: #Poetry

Never fails to blow my mind that something only 4% of the population can afford (or has much interest in at all) ever gets presented as *middle* class. That 96% of us are in need of outreach.

And if you didn't recently buy your copy of the new @theletterspage.bsky.social, then you are *also* in luck! store.nottingham.ac.uk/product-cata...

If you recently bought a copy of the new @theletterspage.bsky.social, featuring letters from across the @unesco.org Cities of Literature network, and you wished we'd had space to include the original texts alongside the excellent translations, then you're in luck: theletters.page/our-latest-e...

Ik kijk er zo naar uit. Mag ik dit jaar voor de eerste keer de sluis open? Ik weet het niet. Ik kan maar alleen hopen.

“Tax. The. Rich.” - 38 Degrees’ CEO Matthew McGregor The public knows what they want: fair taxes, stronger public services, and the ultra-wealthy paying their share. The Government must listen when they reveal their plans in Wednesday’s budget.

Please sign and help to save my former department! Goodness knows this is no time to stop teaching about and researching North America! www.change.org/p/save-ameri...

Hello poetry friends. I'm looking, for a thing, for examples of poems that quote from TV characters in a way that makes it clear they're doing so without resorting to eg footnotes or similar. Any suggestions? I feel like I've seen it, but my mind is blanker than a blankety blank.

And in the meantime, please sign this petition: www.change.org/p/stop-the-s...

It's not just music and language courses- it's 48 courses across the university. But here's the thing- our UCU colleagues at other universities (like @Cardiffucu.bsky.social) have faced the exact same threats, fought back, and won. So we can too.

Devastated to share the news that was broken to colleagues in Music (and other departments) at the University of Nottingham yesterday. This is obviously a very difficult time for us and our students. Please contact us on [email protected] if you would like to be involved.

Horrific, stupid news from @uniofnottingham.bsky.social — they are closing their music department. Apparently they all found out suddently in a meeting yesterday. It is one of the best music departments in the country — solidarity with my colleagues and their students www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I just want a place of learning where we can read books, learn languages, plant trees, figure things out, build houses, fix plumbing, ride bikes, do childcare, ask questions, welcome strangers, grow food, care for older people, and dance, who's in

Somebody needs to draw a Venn diagram of (fig. a) universities who close their language departments and (fig. b) universities who have the word "global" or "international" in their mission statements, because these people won't understand a thing unless you put it in a powerpoint presentation

Final rehearsal week for The Conditional Citizen

Twice in the last fortnight I've seen someone on a bike get hit by a car, and both times the driver has started shouting about it being the other person's fault. I feel quite strongly that if you drive your car into a human being the first words out of your miserable mouth should be "are you okay?"

our small press fair brings all the depictions of Englishmen by 19th-century Japanese printmakers to the yard. and they're like, wow, I really enjoy browsing books from a range of very small, small, independent, underground, and other presses based on the island of Ireland and from abroad.

The Letters Page is back! The Letters Page is back and better than ever. We have some exciting things for you in the works, so keep an eye out and get ready!

Watching the Bibi & Don Show treat this like some grand victory, while people returning to northern Gaza dig the rubble for loved ones' remains, is pretty revolting.

My classroom policy on AI is: this is the only AI we will be using in the classroom.

This photo of Alaa Abdel Fattah's smile by Mohamed El Raai is the most beautiful thing you could wake up to.

Sally Rooney, Deborah Levy, Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux and Pulitzer winner Viet Thanh Nguyen are among 20 authors urging French president Emmanuel Macron to resume a “lifeline” programme for evacuating Palestinian writers, scholars and artists from Gaza.

Mariam Dagga, a journalist killed yesterday by the IDF left behind two sets of instructions: that her colleagues not cry at her funeral, and asked her 11-year-old son to make her proud. Murdering journalists. Bombing hospitals. Causing a manmade famine. Slaughtering children. This horror has to end.

I concur / endorse / second / echo this suggestion.

Screenwriter of 'Top Boy' and 'Mobland', Ronan Bennett, on the recent Palestine Action ban: "Mr Starmer, Ms Cooper, go fuck yourselves and fuck your legislation too" www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/fre...

Francesca Albanese will be remembered as one of the bravest women of the era, standing against genocide despite the daunting forces arrayed against her. Sanctioning her, rather than the war criminals who are starving and murdering Palestinians is another moment of shame for the US trib.al/Oe77sph

I think this book is a strange and shimmering joy

Book workers / creatives - share & sign. the proscribing of Palestine Action sets an incredibly dangerous precedent docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Almost every paragraph of this article describes another atrocity or war crime, with first-hand testimony from Israeli soldiers. Beyond obscene, and the callous indifference of the UK political and media establishment equally so. archive.ph/3LjoW

Everyone: oh no I can't believe you're learning Dutch it's such a famously difficult language why would you Dutch people:

Hello my fellow Nottingham translation fans 👀 ⬇️

brb, off to buy a monkey sanctuary and a load of typewriters

Would you like to see your name on this page? Simply write us a letter at The Letters Page School of English The University of Nottingham Nottingham NG7 2RD and you will receive a personalised, hand-folded aerogramme in return! More details at link in bio. 🔗

This is from Pamenar Online Magazine, but not in the way we ever wanted to share. Parnia Abbasi (2002–2025), a young Iranian poet, was killed with her family in a brutal Israeli strike on Tehran. We honour her voice. Do not stay silent. www.pamenarpress.com/post/parnia-...

Evidence once again that quilters absolutely know what's what.

I finally did a new Class Notes, and it's not even really a Notes at all but just a suggestion that you come to the online launch for Éireann Lorsung's 'Pattern-book' this evening. I think you should come to the online launch this evening, 7pm, by the way. open.substack.com/pub/classnot...

People who are still shouting that Israel is not committing genocide must be clapping their hands over their ears every time an Israeli minister steps onto a podium because

This will be great and you should join us Or this will be great and you could join us It would be great, I think, if you would join us Éireann's book is great! Why don't you join us? Pattern-book is great so come and join us Patterns as poem-making and poems as joiners - 28th May. Great. Do join us.

What's the word for when you go round for ages telling people that a new book is going to be great and then it shows up as an Observer Book of the Month? The opposite of schadenfreude, I guess. observer.co.uk/culture/book...