Nobel peace prize 2025 live: María Corina Machado wins for work promoting democratic rights in Venezuela

I took this picture of Olga and László in London in 2018. Congrats to Krasznahorkai and his translators, including George Szirtes and @ottiliemulzet.bsky.social, and long live a Central Europe free of dictators (foreign and domestic) and full of magnificent minds like these!

We can’t wait for the BBC Short Story Awards with Cambridge University this evening👏 The winners of #BBCNSSA and #BBCYWA will be announced live on Radio 4’s Front Row from the ceremony at Broadcasting House. Tune in from 7:15pm 🎧 www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

An article on the pressures on publishing, rising costs, what can be done about it - and how readers can also help. open.substack.com/pub/samj/p/w... (This ran in the Society of Authors quarterly, The Author, earlier this year. They've kindly given me permission to reproduce it on my Substack.)

UK recognises Palestine as an independent state

PEN International has adopted four urgent resolutions: defend human rights and free expression; address the climate crisis as a human rights issue; the protection of trans people’s right to free expression; and the protection of free expression in the U.S. www.pen-international.org/news/pen-int...

Titan Books has acquired a British-set contemporary folk–horror from award-winning novelist and dramatist Jake Arnott. Netherwood will be published in autumn 2026 👇 #BookSky

‘Keir Starmer is in trouble.’ New on the blog: James Butler (@piercepenniless.bsky.social) on Labour’s problems. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/se...

'There is no value in a rule until it is broken. There is nothing in life unless there is death at the back of it. Death, dear boy, leaning over the edge of the world and grinning like a boneyard.'

“The Green Party needs to tell more emotive and powerful stories about [how] migration benefits this country, and why the elites, the multimillionaires and billionaires, are the problems – and not blame some of the poorest.”

Sphere has announced promotions across its editorial teams, with Cal Kenny and Molly Walker-Sharp both stepping up to editorial director, Sphere Fiction, and Tig Wallace promoted to publishing director, Sphere Non-Fiction 👇

Reviews: Joseph Williams on Homework by Geoff Dyer. Madeline Cash on Happiness and Love by Zoe Dubno. Andrew Lambirth on Leonard McComb. @paddycash.bsky.social on Open, Heaven by Seán Hewitt. Order here: thelondonmagazine.org/product/curr...

Reviews: Joseph Williams on Homework by Geoff Dyer (@canongate.co.uk). Madeline Cash on Happiness and Love by Zoe Dubno (@doubledaybooks.bsky.social). Andrew Lambirth on Leonard McComb. @paddycash.bsky.social on Open, Heaven by Seán Hewitt (@jonathancape.bsky.social).

Teaching a writing workshop tonight for @creativefutureuk.bsky.social on Character. I love this quote from Woolf’s essay Mr Bennett and Mrs Brown: ‘we go down into them as we descend into some enormous cavern. Lights swing about; we hear the boom of the sea; it is all dark, terrible and uncharted.’

Looking forward to kicking off this creative writing workshop course with @creativefutureuk.bsky.social tonight: www.creativefuture.org.uk/workshop/wri...

Twenty-one years after the publication of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, bestselling author Susanna Clarke returns with a short story. The Bishop of Durham Attempts to Surrender the City is set to appear on the @fictionable.bsky.social website on 24th April 2025 👇 #BookSky

Librarians pressured to remove books by LGBTQ+ writers. Librarians harrassed at work for putting LGBTQ+ stories on their shelves. This is the UK-not Hungary, not USA. It's here and now. What can you do? Invite LGBTQ+ writers to your schools and libraries. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...

On Monday our instagram account was hacked and then deleted. We received a ransom note to recover it; obviously we couldn't and wouldn't pay, and therefore lost thousands of followers. Meta support was useless. But we're BACK with a new account: @littletollerbooks. Can you follow us there and share?

Ozymandias

i have been watching clips of the classicist Emily Wilson perform excerpts from her translations of the Odyssey and the Illiad and she is one of the most captivating speakers i have ever seen?

A new @queenmarycbb.bsky.social, @qmulsbbs.bsky.social study reveals that group arts activities like painting, dancing, or music can significantly reduce #depression and #anxiety in older adults. The effect sizes are comparable to antidepressants or talking therapies. www.qmul.ac.uk/media/news/2...

Rest in peace Pat Ingoldsby, a true Dublin character. May your crossing be easy.

Applications close for the London Library’s Emerging Writers’ Programme on Weds 26 Feb! Get your submissions in quick. www.londonlibrary.co.uk/about-us/ll-...

Spread far and wide.

It was such a great experience taking part in the @creativefutureuk.bsky.social awards ceremony last year at the @southbankcentre.bsky.social - as you can see where I’m very excited in this video from the night: youtu.be/FpNQmy8DshE?... The 2025 competition is now open, full details below!

Some very good and welcome news for indie bookshops (and readers and writers).

"Tech whoppers the world over are obsessed with eternal life. But, argues Professor John Tregnoning of Imperial College, scientific research increasingly suggests that the music we love can have a huge boost to our immune system and health" thequietus.com/opinion-and-...

I loved reviewing ‘Our Evenings’ by Alan Hollinghurst for @thelondonmagazine.bsky.social and I’ve included it in their Best Of 2024 roundup as my favourite novel this year.