Calling BAVS ECRs! Join @laurenicullen.bsky.social and I on Zoom today anytime between 5pm - 6pm (GMT) for the @bavs-uk.bsky.social Tea Time! DM us for the link 🫖 ☕️

oh good - it's raining again.

Everything on my Buy-Direct store is 15% off (no coupon needed). payhip.com/kristadball Buying books directly from me means there's more money to spoil a corgi. Act now. Dogs are getting hungry.

Congratulations are in order to our 2026 Peterson Fellowship winner, Clare Clark! The committee notes that her project "promises a new angle on a familiar figure by applying a lens of periodical literature" to it. Read more here: rs4vp.org/awards/peter... We can't wait to read the finished product!

Apply for our PhD placement scheme to get involved in extraordinary research at the Library. There are eight available placements exploring a variety of themes including war poetry, 21st-century digital tools, illustrated newspapers and decarbonisation. Find out more: link.bl.uk/PhDPlacements

Is it because it's a fundamental part of your anatomy?

still January then.

Hi everyone, I'm organising a conference in Leuven, 4-5 June, and you're all invited*! It's called 'Performing evil: the mediation and display of diabolic spectres 1700-2000' and here is the call for papers (get in touch if you'd like a pdf!). Please share widely! *to submit an abstract before 21/3

I'm running a course on British detective fiction on Saturday for @oxlifelonglearning.bsky.social, and one of the things I'll be discussing is the changing packaging of Inspector Morse, from seedy realism to refined tourism.

An incredibly helpful bank of resources for anyone looking to write a book proposal (bookmarked for future reference). Thank you for your generosity @eve.gd

Here's a #HigherEducationPostcard of Christ Church, Oxford The College is also Oxford Cathedral, which overlap is also a feature of some ancient Arabic-world universities, such as Fez If you like this image, please repost it - remember, BlueSky has #NoAlgorithm

COMING SOON: Pets & their People explores why humans keep animals close, and what our evolving relationships with pets may reveal about ourselves. 🗓️ 11 March – 27 September 2026 📍 Weston Library 🎟️ Free admission Find out more: https://visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/event/pets-and-their-people

Request for help from any #London friends! Do you know if it's possible to view any of the #CrystalPalace #dinosaurs at present? I know they're undergoing conservation work at the moment. Is it worth a visit, even if I can only see some? Thank you!

Does anyone have any Manchester University Press book proposals that they could let me have a look at? #18c #19c #skystorians #AcademicSky

I know it feels a long way off, but for those of you who think your August is missing a little early modern crime...why not sign up for the University of Oxford's summer school? I promise it will be more fun and less grim than you may think! lifelong-learning.ox.ac.uk/courses/crim...

Opens to-do list. Closes to-do list.

Just tried socialising. It's not for me.

Just tried socialising. It's not for me.

Check out our own @digivictorian.bsky.social on WIRED talking about Victorian leg fetishes (and more on Victorian history!)

We are super excited to announce the launch of our flagship London Rare Books Summer School! There are a number of bookish courses for you to choose from, check our website for details. Book now to avoid disappointment: buff.ly/7cpbeU1 #RareBooks #SummerSchool

Victorianists / C19 folks! Where do you go for reliable numbers on the "normal" / average demographics for 1780, 1820, 1840, etc? I.e. what was the average literacy rate, the lifespace, median age to marry, median childbirth rate, average adjusted income, etc?

I am the luckiest nerd, and I try never to forget it.

Reminder that the Lit/Cultural studies list for literary and cultural studies scholars still works, here -- need to be added. bsky.app/profile/did:...

It's an old chair, but still …

Lucy has no idea how my chair got scratched.

For any Londoners with a winter coat to spare, you can take it to the Actors’ Church (St Paul’s in Covent Garden) to be given to someone who needs one.

Can’t quite believe that the great Dickensian and kind, generous, thoughtful scholar Michael Slater has died. Happy memories of Dickens Days - his wonderful readings. I’m experiencing the creeping feeling that he sort of WAS Dickens - only in the best ways, of course. Dickensian and A Dickensian.

Just in time for the final Stranger Things...revisit your favourite 80s media with 'Suburban Fantastic Cinema' cup.columbia.edu/book/suburba...

I'm thrilled to be co-organising this study day next year. Please consider submitting an abstract and joining us in this important and fascinating conversation about women's (peri-) menopause in Victorian literature

Dear #Academicsky: the RSS feeds to UPenn's CFP list doesn't seem to work anymore. Any technical advice on how to follow the list without constantly visiting the site manually? Much appreciated... #academic #upenn #academia

GO AND MAKE THESE CHANGES unless you are okay with gmail scanning all your emails and attached content.

🍃 Considering applying for our Postgraduate Certificate in Ecological Survey Techniques? Join us online on Thursday 4 December at 13:00 to find out more about the course, get to know the course team, meet our former students, and ask any questions you may have. 🔗 Register here: buff.ly/CdqjObj

CFP: Special issue on Brontë adaptations—film, stage, screen, visual arts, digital media, transmedia, ALL the creative ways the Brontës keep being reimagined. The issue will be published in 2027, and the deadline for submissions is October 5, 2026

Nick Gaskill and I are organising a panel on Whitehead, focused on Science & the Modern World, for the MSA/BAMS conference in 2026, and are looking for an additional contributor. Email me by 25 November on [email protected] if you’re interested! #WeirdModernisms #BAMS2026 #MSA2026

Just a reminder that if you're attending our seminar in person rather than online this evening, we're in the Institute of Education rather than at the IHR (which is closed for Founders' Day). All welcome! #Skystorians

Just 'reduced' a section of my introduction by somehow adding 1000 words. I'll revisit it tomorrow …

Hello! I’m looking for scholarship on the management of artificial light in early modern workplace environments. Any suggestions most welcome! #earlymodern #bookhistory

Currently (just about) functioning between 5-8

Risley Moss was built on the site of a Royal Ordnance factory - some of the bunkers are still there. The workers were called the 'canary girls' because the chemicals turned their hair yellow. warringtonhistorysociety.uk/suicide-squa...

I'm still looking for participants to interview about Reclaim the Night, squatting/housing co-ops and feminist architecture! Please share 💗

Here's a #HigherEducationPostcard of @royalholloway.bsky.social Founded in 1879 by Thomas Holloway, who had made his fortune selling patent medicines, it was one of @londonu.bsky.social's colleges for women If you like this image, please retweet it - remember, BlueSky has #NoAlgorithm

Another new VPFA blog post from our very own Social Media Secrerary (yes, it is Rebecca shamelessly reposting this). Read about my experience as a Chawton House Visiting Fellow at the link below! Chawton offers so much to VPFA members, but particularly scholars of women's writing 🪶

A stream of blue humanities projects is flooding my desk (ok, done with the watery language now, I promise) for our new series. 1st manuscript is also now out with peer reviewers! Check out the series' overview and get in touch if working on anything relevant! www.bloomsbury.com/uk/series/th...

Just got round to reading The Wrath to Come and it's 👏👏👏

The official CFP is a few days off, but I can't wait that long to announce that #BAVS2026 will be held in Liverpool, 27-29 July. We hope that some of the @rs4vp.org crowd will be able to make the trip over from #RSVP2026 and join @bavs-uk.bsky.social for more Victorian stuff. Details to follow.

Looks like we might have an update about CR from our SMT this Friday (Oct 24)

My fab colleague Sharon Ruston on the new Guillermo Del Toro Frankenstein: theconversation.com/guillermo-de...

Ok, does anyone know how to easily convert references and bib to MHRA? Word seems to have every style but that one!

University of Derby proposes more than 200 redundancies. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

If you're looking for historical images to illustrate your blog/book etc check out my list of resources and databases www.naomiclifford.com/image-databa... The focus is on Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries. #history