Weirde & obscure wordes are not an elitist control thinge. Thei have hidden all thys tyme, & thei carrye wyth them great poweres & unforeseen futures. Wordes you have to looke up are wordes that businesse hath not bent ynto sad smooth chains to harness desyre. Lookinge up wordes ys rebellion.

Hello lovely academic pals. Would any lovely person possibly be willing to share an application to the British Academy's Mid-Career Fellowship with me? I am trying not to say the same thing in every section!

Is there a way to filter it so only Good Email comes through and Bad Email goes straight to hell? IT experts pls help thx.

Couple of events coming up in and around Detroit later this month! First, a discussion on the 26th at Book Beat in Oak Park, 5-7PM. www.thebookbeat.com/backroom/202.... Then a party and reading on the 30th at MOCAD! See you there!

In this week's TLS I discuss Graham Harman's latest book, Waves and Stones, in which he asks how the continuous and the discrete can coexist. For him, as always, it all boils down to objects. As for me, I'm just glad to be talking about ontology @thetls.bsky.social www.the-tls.com/philosophy/c...

Did one million tiny bugs rain onto me at a rural train station and then doggedly accompany me on my journey OR am I hallucinating?

you officially become a poet

Made it to Scotland via taxi, plane, tram, train, and bus. Do I get some kind of EGOT for doing all the transportation in a single journey.

Yesterday 142 academic staff at the University of Lincoln were put at risk of redundancy including the entire Politics and International Relations team. This follows cuts since 2024 which have already seen over 500 people leave the university. This is the 'University of No Regrets'.

Trying to psych myself up for a trip to the US which I feel ambivalent to negative about so here‘re some things I’m looking forward to: Mexican food, Lake Michigan, maybe it’ll happen while we’re there, seeing loved ones.

Long shot, but are there any Literature academics out there who would be willing to part with their print copy of the journal English from Spring 2025? It's the special issue I edited on poetry archives, but it is proving very difficult to obtain an extra copy from the publisher...

"The Univ. of Hertfordshire has decided to close all eight Humanities undergraduate programmes in English Language and Linguistics, English Literature, Creative Writing, History and Philosophy.... PLEASE sign this petition to support staff and students in Humanities" www.change.org/p/save-the-h...

Are you the parent/guardian of children aged 3-7? Or a childcare professional working with children that age? Could you spare 10-15 mins for a survey on picture books depicting LGBTQ+ identities and non-traditional families, to help Deanna with her dissertation research, please? lnkd.in/e9q2B9KW

I'm an overseas voter so our ballots come early and I was really happy to vote this week for @abdulelsayed.bsky.social for Michigan!

A new issue of Diacritics (53.2) is out! With contributions by Pedro Erber, Maxwell Woods, Patrick Teed, Alex Brostoff, and Trent Leinenbach. Also featuring art by Katherine Sherwood, accompanied by Paul Schneider's commentary. Read here in Open Access on Project Muse: muse.jhu.edu/issue/57106

"NO ONE WAY WORKS, it will take all of us shoving at the thing from all sides to bring it down." (Diane di Prima on Weird Al)

"NO ONE WAY WORKS, it will take all of us shoving at the thing from all sides to bring it down." (Diane di Prima on Weird Al)

My kids are really into Weird Al (Yankovic, not ai) rn, which is hilarious and delightful. But also his song Party in the CIA goes surprisingly hard at state abuses of power?? I had to explain waterboarding bc they learned about it from Weird Al.

Hey Bluesky crowd! You also should be signing our petition opposing the announced redundancies at the University of Exeter. 📢 We're 17k and growing! Redundancies ARE NOT necessary and we must #DefendExeterUni 🩷 c.org/RFqMvrKb6z

Anyone have any idea what Yeats poem this is quoting “só consigo ouvir o cantor que canta como se a fala se incendiasse”. It’s something like “I can only hear the singer who sings as if speech were on fire” but the back translation isn’t yielding any results when I try searching. Thanks!

Friends! Consider submitting an abstract for the ACLA 2027 seminar "Views from the Global South: New Horizons in World Literature" I have just proposed. Please click on the link for details, let me know if you have any questions, and please repost! www.acla.org/seminar/fcb8...

Ongoing deluge of fake vague grifts! I ended up reporting them and, not to brag, but the IT department just called me "vigilant"

Along with almost all of my colleagues in history, this afternoon I got an email telling me that I am at risk of redundancy. It looks like the University of Exeter sent this email to the vast majority of people in Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty. Bit hard to breath right now.

OOOOO (Object oriented out of office)

Was a joy to talk with @drdaveobrien.bsky.social about The Alternative Press, founded by Ann and Ken Mikolowski in Detroit in 1969. Thanks to all the great folks who keep @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social going so strong!

Is it possible to die from a school parent group chat?

We have two new 12-month postdoctoral fellowship opportunities at the British Library! Applications open soon to co-design projects in the following areas: - Colonial Deposit and our Newspaper Collection - Local Large Language Models and Personal Born-Digital Archives www.bl.uk/services/res...

Heading to Australia for the first time next week. In anticipation, I've spent the summer with Alexis Wright, Richard Flanagan, Gerald Murnane. What hard-to-get-overseas books should I look out for there? Especially poetry. Any favourite bookshops in Sydney? 🐨

Was a joy to talk with @drdaveobrien.bsky.social about The Alternative Press, founded by Ann and Ken Mikolowski in Detroit in 1969. Thanks to all the great folks who keep @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social going so strong!

Very much looking forward to taking part in BABE2026 artists book fair next weekend Fri-Sat 26-27th at Spike Island in Bristol. All details here www.spikeisland.org.uk/programme/ev... and here www.bookarts.uwe.ac.uk/babe2026/ Do drop by for a chat and browse!

On this note, if you're interested in play, it's this year's theme at the Cornell Society for Humanities (deadline September 1). societyhumanities.as.cornell.edu/society-fell...

I got ANOTHER one of these, about another book of mine, this time asking me "what do you hope contemporary readers will discover about Oiticica" and claiming to be from someone who does "book discovery research."

Our BABE poster printed by Ben Goodman, it’s out and about in town but we have saved some for exhibitors to collect when they arrive next week (while they last). A beautiful relief printed blend celebrating our guests from Japan with a snow topped Mount Fuji. www.spikeisland.org.uk/programme/ev...

Hi I need our leaders in arts, culture, and higher ed to have better ideas than "adopting an entrepreneurial mindset" thanks.

'If you work freelance in the UK heritage sector this branch is for you. You don’t need to be a full-time freelancer. If you do any freelance work in the sector, you’re welcome.'

Incredible book, loved hearing Ellen read from it in Bristol last month. Get it and read it, you too.

"Where there is a curve, a story will pour into it. There is a pike arched, in a gesture of offering, in your net. Hold him loosely, let the slow laminar flow of the future pool in him ..." — Ellen Dillon @brokensleepbooks.bsky.social minorliteratures.com/2026/06/11/h...

The Eccles Institute & Hay Festival Global Writer’s Award is a residency prize that grants up to £20,000 annually to two writers from the UK and Latin America for a yet-to-be-published book relating to the Americas. www.hayfestival.com/eccles-insti...

Got another scam email, this time from a fake editor (or actually, someone pretending to be a real editor). Full of computer-generated flattery. I have to think that the audience for this niche grift is small potatoes compared to penis enlargement and hot singles in your area, but what do I know.

TIL there is a brand new $4.5 billion bridge between Detroit and Windsor sitting unused because it has gotten caught up in Trump's petulant trade fight with Canada prospect.org/2026/06/08/g...

Pre-sessional EAP Tutor. Kings Foundations. King's College London #HigherEd #language #edusky www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DRU969/p...

Absolutely lovely Job! Senior Research Associate to join the School of Literature, Drama & Creative Writing from 1 September 2026 until 30 April 2029, to work on the AHRC-funded project Beyond the Essay: Creative-Critical Teaching www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DRJ527/s...

Please support our comrades at Nottingham, where over 600 staff are facing redunancies: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding...

Excited to learn of this new book (and it's open access!) uclpress.co.uk/book/literar...

I'm so bo-or-ored with the L-L-Ms.