RIP lovely Jilly Cooper, the only subject of a @backlisted.bsky.social episode to write us all thank you letters afterwards. ❤️

#BannedBooksWeekUK begins today! From 5-11 Oct, join us in celebrating the freedom to read. 📖 Read a banned book 🎤 Host /attend an event 📚 Organise a book swap 📱Share on socials #BannedBooksWeekUK www.indexoncensorship.org/bannedbooksw...

Very cheering to read this lovely review of Lives of the Female Poets by @kimmoorepoet.bsky.social this morning. @bloodaxebooks.bsky.social

We stand with Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann in expressing deep concern for Irish poet Sarah Clancy and others detained from the Global Sumud Flotilla. We call for their release and safe return home. irishpen.com/2025/10/02/g...

Big news. Big. Huge. 🌝 Delighted that Stay Dead by Natalie Shapero is shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize 2025 🙏 to the judging panel & congratulations to all shortlisted poets. We hope this recognition can bring her work to more UK readers 🙏

Every year I do a couple of fun winter projects. Last year I started designing knitwear! Pleased to officially announce the CLASSICS NERDS ‘25 collection: GORGONEION

Glad the Guardian is finally reporting this properly, more of this please www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Imagine you're at a writers' retreat with the lads and you're all showing off a draft after dinner and then your mate's girlfriend goes here is the novel Frankenstein which I just wrote

This feels like evidence Trump's aides are deliberately gaslighting him, which is unfortunately very easy to do with dementia sufferers (Trump did it to his father) and which aides are using to seize control of the US military for their own purposes.

They ruined Google search for nothing

“The elevation, the climatic changes and accessibility [of the] paths have to be planned. When you [use] a program [like ChatGPT], which combines pictures and names to create a fantasy, then you can find yourself at an altitude of 4,000m without oxygen and [phone] signal."

These governments are making a lot of work for the compilers of the Oxford dictionary - the definition of terrorism now has to include “delivering food to children” and “sitting quietly”

I condemn the global mainstream media for failing to cover the credible accusations, Greta Thunberg has been abused, beaten, humiliated and mistreated in Israeli custody. It is absolutely essential that the media focus on this story, to put pressure on Israel. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o... 1/6

Just a couple of spaces left for this Tomorrow if you want to improve your Monday www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mining-the...

history teacher in 50 years: So in September, that’s when the president signed an executive order criminalizing anti-fascism and saying all resistance would be crushed student: oh so that’s when the whole country realized they were living under fascism teacher: haha what? oh no lol not at all. no.

Israel is piling crime on top of crime on top of crime. No wonder it is determined to bring down the entire edifice of international humanitarian law - it's the only hope of protecting itself from consequences. Btw: the allegations are significantly worse than bedbugs.

The You’re Still Doing This? award for poets aged 45-55

@greekmythcomix.bsky.social Hi GMC - I was going to buy one of yr glorious jumpers but when adding delivery you have to tick a box saying you will pay any customs duties…can I ask if there will be any in the UK? I felt slightly uncomfortable agreeing to pay an undisclosed extra sum to get the jumper

This is fascism.

It’s not funny because it’s true.

all of these videos are horrifying. what feels so singularly striking and scary to me in all of them is the individual seething contempt and rage of these agents

Only a few tickets left for Winchester show in Monday www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ice-cream-...

This article manages to name her husband before it names… her.

The good people of Bluesky... a request for help. I’m on the lookout for real-life examples of ridiculous tat, tacky gifts, or pointless gadgets: e.g. a replica Viking Drinking Horn (with brass wolf adornments) or an Amanda Holden wall clock. The more awful or futile, the better. Any suggestions?

Just ONE WEEK until the Winchester Poetry Festival. so much going on. Book now! www.winchesterpoetryfestival.org/what-s-on

Completely heartbroken about the attack on Heaton shul yesterday but it only underscores the fact that Israel’s g€n0cid@l war is making Jews LESS safe. It needs to end yesterday. Free Palestine. Free the hostages. Fuck people who hurt other people.

🧵 In 2025, book censorship in the United States is rampant and common. Never before in the life of any living American have so many books been systematically removed from school libraries across the country. Read our new report "The Normalization of Book Banning" at: pen.org/report/the-n...

But if you joke about Trump or say something we don't like about Charlie Kirk it's curtains for you. We don't make the rules. Oh wait, we do.

Tim Walz: "We're in a massive misinformation campaign. The president himself tweeting out AI videos of fake news reports on healthcare. This is really dangerous. I cannot express to you the concern and absolutely bafflement and fear of our European allies asking me, 'Is this stuff really going on?'"

"'The Snacks Are Gone' opens as a breezy workplace comedy featuring Tilly Norwood as Heather, a young publicist with a turbulent romantic life, assigned to manage the account for a snack product labeled 'buffalo rings.'"

If you weren't there live, well worth watching the recording. Great readings from all three - lots to enjoy and think about.

My god. “Watson said she saw agents dragging residents, including kids, out of the building without any clothes on and into U-Haul vans. Kids were separated from their mothers…’It was heartbreaking to watch…seeing kids coming out buck naked and taken from their mothers, it was horrible.’”

News from our friends: the @poetrybusiness.bsky.social competitions are open. The Book & Pamphlet Competition judged by Kim Moore New Poets Prize judged by Holly Hopkins Deadline: 2 Nov 2025. A chance to have your #poetry pamphlet published by Smith|Doorstop. poetrybusiness.co.uk/competitions

Apparently the theme of #nationalpoetryday is ’play’ so here’s an old one from my collection Incarnation.

A small bit of good news www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...

All eyes on the flotilla.

Israel has just arrested Greta Thunberg and many others. Statement from the Global Sumud Flotilla: “People of conscience have been abducted. The flotilla broke no laws. What is illegal is Israel’s genocide, Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza, and Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon.” 1/3

Authors have to worry about quoting one line of a song lyric in a book but this is apparently fine

Winchester Poetry Festival in the Hampshire Chronicle www.hampshirechronicle.co.uk/news/2550803...

Here are three more factual statements: 1. 25,000 of Mike Johnson's constituents are about to lose health care 2. 27,000 more are about to have their premiums skyrocket. 3. A 60 year old couple in his district would pay $19,000 more a year.

REVEALED: Donald Trump has picked Tony Blair for central role in Gaza ‘peace plan’… …but in our inaugural investigation for @thenerve_news, we reveal extensive previously unreported links to Israeli defence, media & tech. 🧵 1/ www.thenerve.news/p/tony-blair...

Will is one of the best people I know to talk to about poetry: £20 for 2 hours of his time is a bargain

Shocked to discover we still have places for this online workshop with WILL HARRIS next Thursday. 2hr session, small group, fun exercises - join him for some rule breaking! £20 #poetry #winchesterpoetry www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/canon-or-c...

Today’s episode of The Poems We Made Along The Way is a conversation with the wonderful Erica Hesketh. We spoke about translation, using poetic forms and her debut collection In The Lily Room. Check it out wherever good podcasts can be heard.

Last night's wonderful launch event for our September books is now on YouTube. Beautiful readings from poets @jesstraynor.bsky.social, @emiliejelinek.bsky.social and @poetclare.bsky.social, followed by a great discussion hosted by Bloodaxe editor Neil Astley. www.youtube.com/live/He4JaXN...

The number of people who go bankrupt every year because of medical bills. Norway - 0 UK - 0 France - 0 Spain - 0 Portugal - 0 Denmark - 0 Australia - 0 Iceland - 0 Italy - 0 Finland - 0 Ireland - 0 Germany - 0 Netherlands - 0 Sweden - 0 Japan - 0 Canada - 0 United States - 643k

Wonderful @bloodaxebooks.bsky.social Zoom launch tonight for three brilliant books by @emiliejelinek.bsky.social, @jesstraynor.bsky.social and @poetclare.bsky.social - can’t wait to get hold of the new collections! Cc @mslexia.bsky.social

Trump: "We're the hottest country in world right now. Putin said that to me."