All set for our session on the Pennine Way! @anitasethi.bsky.social @andrewmccloy.bsky.social

Looking forward to this later today!

I'm off this afternoon to celebrate the story of the Pennine Way at #Todmorden Book Fest, with two other authors @anitasethi.bsky.social and @andrewmccloy.bsky.social. Ah, those northern hills! Should be a good session!

Not long to go now to this event, marking 25 years of access legislation in E&W and campaigning for further access rights. @ramblers.org.uk @righttoroam.bsky.social @openspacessociety.bsky.social @philbrickellmp.bsky.social @andymacnaemp.bsky.social See you there!

Highly commended award for excellence, from the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild, for Gritstone author (and founder) @andrewbibby-writer.bsky.social : The Borders, The Lands We Share. Buy your copy here: gritstonecoop.co.uk/product/bord...

🥾 Celebrate 60 years of the Pennine Way by joining @andrewbibby-writer.bsky.social, @anitasethi.bsky.social & myself at Todmorden Book Festival on 9th November. We’ll be discussing what this remarkable trail means to use & reading extracts from our books. todmordenbookfestival.co.uk/whats-on/

Well OK I will blow my own trumpet just a little and mention the accolade my book The Borders: The Lands We Share has just received. Runner-up in the Outdoor Book of the Year awards @gritstonebooks.bsky.social @cumbriapr.bsky.social

Our books are distributed by Cordee if bookshops are struggling to find our stock. But you can also order direct from us, with free p&p, and we have a fantastic range of outdoors titles gritstonecoop.co.uk

A walk today in surprisingly ok weather to the independent hostel at the back of Skiddaw, Skiddaw House. The occasion? The annual get-together of authors and photographers in the Outdoor Writers & Photographers Guild.

Tony Harrison's obit in the papers today. V sadly no longer one of our greatest living poets. His sonnet National Trust is on my mind. In it he reflects (no, not on the NT) but on language, concepts of nationhood, power and class. All in 14 lines. It's online, here I think:https://poetryarchive.org

A good news story from #HebdenBridge. The heritage #signal box, empty and unloved for 8 years, has been saved for the community by Calder Valley Community Land Trust. In due course it'll become a heritage centre and quirky holiday accomm.

Not great weather today but I took myself off to the old quarries at Penistone Park near #Haworth to see Steve Messam's contribution to #bradford #2025 yr of culture. Definitely worth the visit.https://www.stevemessam.co.uk/towerbradford?itemId=bx886d6c6mggg1lrc7zecyvsb439xen

The excellent #Todmorden Book Festival has just published its 2025 programme. Pleased to be there sharing the stage with @gritstonebooks.bsky.social colleague @andrewmccloy.bsky.social and @anitasethi.bsky.social. We'll be celebrating the 60th birthday of the Pennine Way.

Authors should _never_ look in bookshops for their titles. That way lies despair. But my eye was nevertheless caught in @waterstones.bsky.social in #York by my latest book peeping out at me. Books by my @gritstonebooks.bsky.social colleagues also on the shelves. Nil desperandum.

Just leaving #Leeds and an event I really wish hadn't had to happen. The local branch of my union @nujofficial.bsky.social were marking the deaths of so many #journalists and media workers trying to report what is happening in #Gaza. A sombre occasion.

Nice to see this piece in @theguardian.com on an organisation dear to my heart. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The eight members of @gritstonebooks.bsky.social, so far Britain's only author-led publisher, pose here at #Beverley Bookshop, a fine indy #bookshop, before heading off for our Awayday #coop meeting. @cumbriapr.bsky.social @windhovering.bsky.social @chrisgoddardmap.bsky.social

On my way to Beverley, along with the seven other members of @gritstonebooks.bsky.social UK's first author-run #coop publisher. It's our Awayday, to discuss our strategy to 2030. @cumbriapr.bsky.social @andrewmccloy.bsky.social @windhovering.bsky.social @coopnews.bsky.social

Nice to see my new book The Borders- The Lands We Share on the shelves in @samreadbookseller.bsky.social in Grasmere. Support #indybookshops! @gritstonebooks.bsky.social @cumbriapr.bsky.social

#coop day at @foxandgoose.org coop pub in #hebdenbridge. And @gritstonebooks.bsky.social is here too. Britain's first author run coop. @coopnews.bsky.social @coopsmark.bsky.social @cooperativesuk.bsky.social @coopstudiesjournal.bsky.social @cumbriapr.bsky.social @chrisgoddardmap.bsky.social

Remembering Jesse Gray, #coop pioneer & co-host of first ever ICA conf. #iyc @cooperativesuk.bsky.social @coopsmark.bsky.social @coopstudiesjournal.bsky.social @coopfutures.bsky.social His grave in #Hebdenbridge @coopnews.bsky.social

A great walk yesterday in the sunshine on once forbidden moorland near Boulsworth Hill on the Lancs/Yorkshire border. A recce for the No-Longer-Trespass walk to be held on Sat Nov 29 in #hebdenbridge as part of national conf on right to roam. @righttoroam.bsky.social . 25th anniv of CRoW Act.

The reviews are coming in now for my new book The Borders: The Lands We Share. Here's a nice one from Viewpoint mag @campaign4parks.bsky.social . "A compelling read" - ah, cockles of this author's heart warmed. @gritstonebooks.bsky.social @cumbriapr.bsky.social @andrewmccloy.bsky.social

Thank you, Mark, v kind review.

The excellent Northern Soul online mag has a piece up about my new book The Borders: The Lands We Share. Find it at www.northernsoul.me.uk/borders-land.... @gritstonebooks.bsky.social @cumbriapr.bsky.social @righttoroam.bsky.social @ramblersscotland.bsky.social

Ah, it's enough to make any author well chuffed! Here's my new book in the window of The Reading Room, the #indybookshop in #Melrose in #scottishborders. A lovely well curated bookshop. @gritstonebooks.bsky.social

Lovely review of my new book The Borders: The Lands We Share just up on @northeastbylines.co.uk. Thank you to journalist Peter Sagar. northeastbylines.co.uk/news. @gritstonebooks.bsky.social @cumbriapr.bsky.social #northumbria #northumberland

A particular thank you to @thisjanscott.bsky.social for her help

Yes, properly launched into the world last night, my book The Borders: The Lands We Share. @gritstonebooks.bsky.social @andrewmccloy.bsky.social @cumbriapr.bsky.social @windhovering.bsky.social

Great new book from @andrewbibby-writer.bsky.social launched this evening to a full house in Hebden Bridge. ‘The Borders: The Lands We Share’ explores landscape & life both sides of the Scotland/England divide - available from gritstonecoop.co.uk @gritstonebooks.bsky.social

Always exciting to see a new title. The launch in Hebden Bridge of @andrewbibby-writer.bsky.social new book: The Borders, The Lands We Share gritstonecoop.co.uk/product/bord...

An early morning explore of the v northernmost section of the English Coast Path at #Berwick. My @gritstonebooks.bsky.social colleague @christophergoddard.bsky.social is writing the definitive guidebooks. 2vols out, 2 to come. @ramblers.org.uk

I'm visiting indy #bookshops where you can get my new book The Borders: The Lands We Share. Haven't yet mentioned the three great bookshops in Northumberland, @forumbooks.bsky.social in #Corbridge, the bound in #WhitleyBay and Accidental Bookshop in #Alnwick. @gritstonebooks.bsky.social

This afternoon I've been in Edinburgh visiting indy #bookshops. Buy my newly published The Borders: The Lands We Share at Topping and Co (great to hear of their forthcoming new shop in York), or at @lighthousebooks.bsky.social or at @typewronger.bsky.social . @gritstonebooks.bsky.social

Talking of good indy bookshops, I need also to mention Mainstreet in St Boswells and The Reading Room in #Melrose and Cogito Books in #Hexham. All stocking The Borders: The Lands We Share.

Really delighted to visit the excellent #indy #bookshop @wedale-bookshop.bsky.social this morning. I'm in Scotland this week for promotional activities for my new book The Borders: The Lands We Share. @gritstonebooks.bsky.social.

One way to help solve the #housing crisis... bottom-up community endeavour. Well done Calder Valley Community Land Trust who've been showing off this afternoon the latest empty property they've brought back to life. @communitylandsc.bsky.social

House for £25m at St George's Hill Weybridge in weekend FT. This is where in 1649 Gerard Winstanley and the Diggers wanted to make the earth a common treasury for all. We're not yet there, are we?

How an opaquely-funded PR company is skewing the debate about a new national park in Scotland and why it is so important for you to have your say. aprs.scot/news/environ...

Not yet published, but the proof copy has arrived today and (though I say it myself) I think it looks pretty good! @gritstonebooks.bsky.social

The annual Public Lending Right statement arrived yesterday. Not vast wealth for this particular author but, never mind, #PLR remains v important recognition of all writers' contributions. A hard fought-for right. @societyofauthors.bsky.social @gritstonebooks.bsky.social

A cup of coffee today discussing independent publishing with the always helpful Kevin Duffy of very wonderful publishers @ofmooseandmen.bsky.social . Thank you Kevin!

Calling all book lovers in and around #HebdenBridge. You'll be very welcome at the launch of Andrew Bibby's fascinating new book gritstonecoop.co.uk/product/bord... at the HB Town Hall on Friday Feb 28 at 5pm. Make a note of the date now 😊 @gritstonebooks.bsky.social Please pass this on!

I love this area. With a blend of rolling hills, rugged moorlands, dramatic hills and winding river valleys that have witnessed centuries of conflict. it has a fascinating heritage both historical and natural. Looking forward to the publication of this book.

Proud to be a member of Britain's first author-run publishing #coop.

So, the UK's first author-run publishing co-op is just about to start our regular members' meeting. Lots of good books on their way!

An excellent talk last night from @kevinclimate.bsky.social in #HebdenBridge. And lively discussion.

I’d like to think this reflects a deep engagement & concern around climate change, but it’s a cold & snowy evening in Hebden Bridge so perhaps people are just saving on heating … but this was a surprise! Thanks to Nina and the hblitandsci.org.uk for organising the event.

So why have I posted a photo of this tatty footpath sign? (In #Swanage). Because it's a relic from the 1949 Act that helped open up the countryside to ordinary people. Now we need new legislation to progress access rights. @campaignerkate.bsky.social @openspacessociety.bsky.social @ramblers.org.uk

Thousands of ancient sites in England are inaccessible to the public, @righttoroam.bsky.social has revealed One of them "just happens to be owned by Lady Victoria Vyvyan: president of the Country Land & Business Association and a right to roam opponent": www.thegreatoutdoorsmag.com/news/stone-f...