An analogy that literally erases someone else’s labor. 👨🏻‍🍳 💋

This is the 19th-century milestone that Clancy Docwra, working for Southern Water, threw away – and is now lost forever. www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6072595

some wonderful poetry from my near-namesake:

the protein shit

I am reminded of a limerick I once read: There was a young man from Bengal Who was persistently irritated by a large fly

4.25pm on a Friday and I'm finally getting into white-space territory in the chapter I'm working on.

I weighed in on the ongoing "AI-generated story" conversation. I believe that as a previous winner of the CSSP and a "young" writer, I need to say something. Thanks to @literaryhub.bsky.social for publishing this. lithub.com/everyone-is-...

Did you discover, as part of the Anthropic settlement, that your publisher failed to register your copyright? The @authorsguild.org is collecting information authorsguild.org/anthropic-cl... (This is a correction of something I posted yesterday w/ a significant error. Apologies for the mistake)

A historic local milestone that has stood for 200+ years went missing a few months back, when Southern Water/Clancy did works on the exact spot. I reported it. Months later, Southern Water have just knocked on my door to say they didn't record it and don't know where it went.

"Year after year the Betty Trask Awards shine a light on the future of the contemporary novel, rewarding not just one exceptional debut but recognising the sheer range of approaches to making outstanding new fictions. " Judge @andrewcowan01

How many editors does it take to screw in a light bulb? Not sure about this wording: could read as meaning editors have sex in light bulbs! Also, do we really "screw in" UK light bulbs or use bayonet caps? Rewrite and bring it back in your own time, OK? Have you finished yet?

Only possible because the LLM has ingested reams of postcolonial Caribbean prose. All of it stolen. It's almost as if AI is a fresh wave of extractive capitalism.

BUT, OF COURSE

Some other context that wasn't in the interview: OT sits on the board of a videogame developer that is developing a game based on her writing and which received millions in investment for an AI dialogue tool.

Exactly this. And as he says in his next post, literary fiction is also a genre. (Or in my view a distinctive set of genres.)

'An advantage of unbelievable proportion'

Trust isn't enough. Detection doesn't work. Contracts and due diligence help.

Brewing scandal about a possible AI-produced short story winning a prize and published by GRANTA. The story doesn’t seem great but it also doesn’t seem totally like the slop I typically see. Twitter is ablaze about it and so I humbly submit it to this more enlightened audience (see thread)

relatable

We've joined forces with the Writers' Guild of Great Britain to issue urgent new guidance outlining measures authors can take to protect themselves against scams. Download the guide on our website. buff.ly/qOhFz8q

Me doing 'how many of these 100 novels have you read' things in the papers

pity the Dingy Skipper

My book has arrived! It exists in the world!

I wonder when I'm going to unknowingly review a book that was significantly or substantially generated by AI? Non-fiction publishing has long lead times, so I suspect I haven't yet... Publishers need to get better at transparency and disclosure fast.

Proust Baking Company Recalls Thousands of Madeleines

astounding story from @thebookseller.com At the Nibbies awards, Sarah Wynn-Williams was forced to stand in front of blurred images of her book Careless People after an extraordinary late legal move by Meta arguing that she "can’t be in the vicinity of the book".

Is it possible for both of these organisations to lose?

Ancient Greek ballots used to kick politicians out of Athens! Broken pieces of pot, known as ‘ostraca’, were used in a democratic process known as an ‘ostracism’. If a candidate received 6,000 votes, they were exiled for 10 years! Ostraca inscribed ‘Themistocles’, 482 BC 📷 by me #Archaeology

In the first of a new free, in-person training series for writers, sponsored by @alcs.co.uk, WGGB Organiser Eleanor Dawson is leading a workshop on copyright and contracts in London on Monday 18 May (11am to 3pm) Find out more and apply (deadline noon, 11 May) www.surveymonkey.com/r/WGGBTraini...

An emulsified industrial oil product with a similar blood-sugar impact to Coke and a similar oil content to chips isn't allowed to call itself milk? www.jeffnobbs.com/posts/is-oat...

Nothing bores me more than the question ‘Why don’t people like poetry?’ ‘People’ like ‘poetry’ fine — they just don’t like what the asker of the question considers to be poetry in sufficient numbers.

Long ago and far away, my great grandma was in service in one of the big houses in the Lake District. One day, the house had visitors. Not unusual to have visitors in big country houses just before the first world war. The women who were helped down from the car were thin. Starved, you might say,

I love a school email: "Unfortunately, despite a number of reminders, we remain concerned about repeated incidents of children being out of sight from parents. This includes playing on the concrete steps, swinging on fences and PLAYING IN THE SHRUBBERY."

hands up who wants one for novelists by genre?

For anyone who doesn’t have a subscription to the Bookseller, the article is based on this report which launched today: ukcomicscreators.org.uk/wp-content/u...

🔥The results of the UK Comics Creators Survey 2025 are in 🔥 STATS! Come get yer STATS! Fresh juicy STATS! ukcomicscreators.org.uk/wp-content/u...

Do you want a heat map of comics creators? Of course you do!

So we know the graphic novel market is booming right now, but is this being reflected in the incomes of creators who earn from traditional publishing, i wonder?

Real battle of the good guys here www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

😂

We are the LARGEST union in trade publishing history, and we want better for our workers in order to make a sea change for creatives everywhere. Let's take a stand together against the existential threats to the arts, whether stagnating wages, the AI slop machine, and destructive layoffs.

approval on cover art, narrators (or selecting one from a list of 3 people) & translators is much easier to get than wording that mentions AI because that comes up against the company line with plenty of groups. Which is more hassle for staff but the board are happier...

Good point! However, Alexa was named after the Library of Alexandria — the ancient repository of all human knowledge — whereas modern LLMs are just confident bullshitters that just guess stuff, so male names do seem appropriate

I'm still surprised by the number of literary agencies who aren't even asking for AI language. I accept I may be in the minority of contracts people who want the contract to state AI won't be the initial/principal part of any stage in the publishing process, but how are some not bothering at all?

I just ended a piece with the words 'There are other lasagne in the lives of men.' Then, thankfully, thought better of it, and deleted.

My basic thinking was that some students come in to first year exhausted by A-levels, and we needed to present them with new ideas and texts, even a bit of weirdness, while also making it clear that the things they do all the time are culture and worth thinking about. Apparently I was wrong.

I reviewed the new Cal Flyn for the Times. 'Where many contemporary nature writers emphasise joy, Flyn leans into discomfort — physical, intellectual, moral.' Wonderful, slightly lonely book. Hard-core romantic. www.thetimes.com/culture/book...

my latest books cartoon for @theguardian.com

Not so niche, in fact. Last week, as you may have read, more than 200 authors quit Grasset, one of France's finest publishing houses, following its takeover by billionaire Vincent Bolloré. Bolloré also owns the railway bookshop chain Relay, whose windows are now full of titles by far-right figures.

Bang on from George Walkley, as ever...