UK publishing generated £7.4 billion in revenue last year. Compare that to: Premier League football: £6.6 billion Home entertainment: £5.6 billion UK film industry: 2.8 billion Now tell me again why authors don't deserve fair contracts and better pay.

Who are the literary agents of irish authors, and what do they do? I had a go at answering these questions and more in this (open access) essay - with help from some (anonymous) agents, authors and publishers who were good enough to lend me their time www.euppublishing.com/doi/10.3366/...

Pleased to see that my MP has signed this motion advocating for withdrawing the transphobic guidance. If yours hasn’t, worth emailing them and asking them to. Even if you think they won’t, show them you care about this.

Hey book nerds! We just hit 200 registrants for the SHARPIES! Don't let July 7th-9th be the worst bout of FOMO you've ever experienced. Register now! events.zoom.us/ev/Ap9iEZwmC...

If you'd like to get involved by contributing a canapdote or two, there's still time! Please see more details of how over here, or drop us a line: ullapoolism.wordpress.com/2024/11/04/t... #canaperesearch 2/

Very pleased to say that @bethdriscoll.bsky.social & I have a contract for our book The Social Life of Canapes with Goldsmiths Press - out towards the end of 2027, all being well 1/

We are pleased to announce the Translation Fund is open for a new round until the end of August. This fund, supported by @creativescots.bsky.social offers financial support to international publishers seeking to translate Scottish writers. www.publishingscotland.org/what-we-do/s...

Very pleased to say that @bethdriscoll.bsky.social & I have a contract for our book The Social Life of Canapes with Goldsmiths Press - out towards the end of 2027, all being well 1/

Call for Papers: Special Issue of the Journal of Electronic Publishing on Accessibility in Digital Publishing. Edited by Ellen Forget and John W Maxwell. journals.publishing.umich.edu/jep/news/253/

What's that you say? It's #NationalBiscuitDay Oh, well, time to p-p-p-pick up a Penguin...

Very few sign-ups for the in-person document sessions on 16 and 17 June. Please circulate with PhD students etc who use legal records in their research (or I won't be able to run the sessions this year). I can promise witchcraft, treason, and all that good stuff (if it runs). Details via the thread.

Job alert: Lecturer in Creative Writing, Critical Studies, University of Glasgow. Esp. interested in literary fiction, stage or screen writing, & poetry. #academicjobs @uofgartshums.bsky.social @glasgow.ac.uk @univeng.bsky.social @nawewriters.bsky.social www.jobs.gla.ac.uk/job/lecturer...

This wonderful, literary, revolutionary choose your own adventure book arrived today as a gift from 50% of the @blairesquiscoll.bsky.social team, @clairesquires.bsky.social Oh, and my best, beat up water bottle came along for an outing too.

Ebooks disappear TOMORROW! Last, last chance!

I would love a @dieworkwear.bsky.social analysis of my grandad’s rock bashing - erm geological - fit bsky.app/profile/lake... (Iit is his and @lakesstiles.bsky.social aka my brother’s birthday)

RIP Sonny Rollins, a great jazz talent and the last surviving musician in one of the best photos of men in suits during the 20th century

Old school geology; I share my birthday, today, with my grandad - and youngest, but he's not for appearing here. This is Carrock Fell, 1929. (Geology nerds, I think I have his notebook from that field trip, but you'll have to wait til later.)

As it’s a beautiful bank holiday Monday, I’ve uploaded a longread I once wrote about a trip to Ailsa Craig onto substack. It is about memories, fleeting joys & the magic of an island so iconic & so unknowable, it can be anything you want it to be. Photo by John Devlin substack.com/home/post/p-...

Sit down & strap in: it’s a long, wild #Scottish #literature 🧵… What 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scotsman was caught up in a civil war before he was 20? Wrote a book that inspired an Oscar-winning film? Met a runaway teenager in Paris & married her against the wishes of his family? Lost his ranch to raiding Apaches? 💙📚 1/18

A stile with an extra challenge @lakesstiles.bsky.social

So a trans woman I know, almost 70, now has to use male toilets? Why? She had gender reassignment surgery in the 1980s and has been using women's toilets for 40 years. She has never been a threat to anyone. Will she be safe in men's toilets? Where's the law to protect her?

Already got those @edbookfest.bsky.social tix booked :-) bsky.app/profile/cols...

Glasgow nights (summer version)

We are now open for New Writers Awards 2027 applications. In the comments, tag the talented writer, poet, or spoken word artist in your life to encourage them to apply for a year of tailored development and support. Deadline: 29 July 2026 ✍️

We have a pre-order campaign for THE INN AT THE FOOT OF MOUNT VENGEANCE ♥️🏔️🦌 Get a signed copy and this beautiful character print by Chay Ruby when you pre-order from Dryad Books! #booksky www.dryad-books.co.uk/product-page...

I am appalled by the conduct and rhetoric of Israeli Cabinet minister Itamar Ben-Gvir in relation to the Global Sumud Flotilla. Scotland stands with the people of Gaza. We need to see more humanitarian aid coming in, and every effort must be made to secure lasting peace.

With the legal logjam over the potential reopening of Rogano partially unblocked, here's a 1963 menu, featuring the wonderful Robert Eadie watercolour cover of the restaurant. Zoom in to place your lunchtime order. I'll meet you at the bar. Oh, a dirty martini, since you ask...

NEW: @scottishgreens.org MSP Ariane Burgess has written to the Foreign Secretary after her constituent Hughie Stirling was detained by Israeli forces while taking part in the Global Sumud Flotilla So far, the UK Government has refused to provide an on the record comment

📣 Fully-funded PhD: 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗲? 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹, 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗿 𝗜𝘀𝗹𝗲 With @uhiarchaeology.bsky.social, @glasgowschoolofart.bsky.social & @nts-archaeology.bsky.social Closing date: 3 June 🔗 archaeologyorkney.com/2026/05/11/f...

C’est moi

should be required reading 💫

If you read any book during #ScotlandinBooks Week on The BookTrail, you HAVE to read this. And it's out TODAY so buying it's like hugging the author on her special day/week. www.thebooktrail.com/book-trails/... @sarasheridan.bsky.social @hodderfiction.bsky.social #scotland #literarytravelagency

Ginger had to go for some tests (seems still resilient at the grand old age of seventeen) and I wore my MY CAT IS COOL AS FUCK socks. Also featured, post-tests crémant 🥂

Five years ago today up the Whangie/Queen’s Seat 😂 @lakesstiles.bsky.social

Spots are still available for my CalRBS online summer course on feminist bibliography! Spread the word and come explore with me! 📜 📚

"A fantasy rooted in the Scottish landscape, which explores class and connection and much more - it is a real treat." V. grateful to Mairi Oliver of Lighthouse Books for including this wonderful review of The Inn at the Foot of Mount Vengeance in The Bookseller's Scottish Books highlights!

Call for submissions: Centre researcher @pfvelasco.bsky.social is co-editing an Open Access Research Topic on Ecological Grief and Climate Anxiety. Publication fees are waived for submissions made before 30 June. Read more and submit: www.frontiersin.org/research-top...

Yesterday Kier Starmer announced Labour will nationalise British Steel, and save 2700 jobs. Today, the Uni of Nottingham put 2700 staff at risk of redundancy. This is just one university. Across the UK 15,000 higher education jobs need saving. Where is the rescue package for our universities?

✨ New on the SGSAH blog: 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀: 𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗛 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗲. Harriet Crisp reflects on the ongoing legacy of the EARTH Scholarships (2023–2025), delivered by SGSAH in collaboration w/ British Council Scotland. Read the full blog: sgsahblog.com/2026/05/11/t...

Israel killed more journalists in 2025 than all other nations combined, according to the very statistics cited by the UK Government. So why is there no mention of Israel, Gaza, or Palestine in the UK's statement? // ✍️ Xander Elliards 🔗 www.thenational.scot/news/2...

OMG it's actually in shops. This is at Bigglestone Books on Glassford Street. 🥳

Really pleased to be joining Literature Alliance Scotland on its Board of Trustees, and very much looking forward to working with colleagues across the literary ecology in Scotland over the next few years literaturealliancescotland.co.uk/claire-squir...

Look! — A fully-funded practice-based PhD with @rcsofficial.bsky.social & @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social exploring creativity, psychology and collaboration with the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra 🎻 ⏳ Closing date: 26 May 🔗 Details: www.rcs.ac.uk/courses/arch... Spread the word! 🔄

I’m off to Stockholm in a couple of weeks for a Nobel Prize symposium on literary consecration and this is a gift from above… Watch out for forthcoming teasers of @blairesquiscoll.bsky.social’s The Stockholm Kabuff bsky.app/profile/theg...

“let those among us that have never invented an international academic society to award ourselves fake medals and get a promotion cast the first stone,” -old academic saying

Registration now open for SGSAH Summer School 2026 🚀 18–19 June (online) + 24–25 June (Glasgow) For arts & humanities PhDs in Scotland, including our Doctoral Research Showcase (open to all) Explore the programme & book soon—spaces limited! padlet.com/sgsah/sgsah-...

Every vote counts. Don't leave our future up to chance. Together we can build a fairer, greener, kinder Scotland. 🕙Polls are open until 10pm 🗳️Everyone in Scotland can vote Scottish Greens on the peach ballot paper ✉️If you have a postal vote you can hand it in 🪪You DON'T need photo ID in Scotland

Register to vote by mail but didn't get around to posting it? Don't worry!

twenty years ago people attacked universities by deriding “Mickey Mouse degrees” like media studies in favour of “proper” subjects like history, and now universities are skipping that step and simply abolishing everything that isn’t economics

This is absolutely shocking. What’s happening to the UK’s arts and humanities sector is just criminal. Thinking of all our colleagues there. It feels unimaginable, but it really could be any of us.