Join us on 27th November at 5.30pm to hear @nrhopwood.bsky.social talk about a late medieval Icelandic saga on dragons 🐉 we can't wait for this one! Scan the QR code or click the link below to sign up: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

I’m very excited to talk about one of my favourite sagas with @ihrhistorylab.bsky.social on 27th November! It’s online, so please sign up and come along, it’ll be a great, dragon-y time 🐉

"Here we believe in standing up for those we love, whether you are an immigrant, a member of the trans community, one of the many black women Trump has fired, a single mom waiting for the cost of groceries to go down, or anyone else with your back against the wall. Your struggle is ours too."

Having both presented and been on the committee for this conference, I cannot recommend it enough!

It's Halloween! 🎃 Naturally I am working on the preface to Monster Theory 3.0, under contract with @uminnpress.bsky.social and offering more than twenty new essays in monster studies as well as a rethinking of "Monster Culture (Seven Theses)."

The School of English PGR Symposium is taking place on 11th November, featuring over 10 papers from SoE PGRs! Sign up here to come along forms.office.com/e/75eFxbbbiY

Spread the word! A new postgraduate and early career researcher seminar series at @universityofleeds.bsky.social! For those studying the Late Antique, Medieval, and Early Modern periods. We look forward to reading your proposals! #medievalsky #earlymodern #lateantique

How to Make a Monster www.medievalists.net/2023/10/how-... #monsters #halloween

“Monsters always speak of power — sometimes they speak for it, other times they speak against it.” A postcard from @dinostalgia.bsky.social

I’ve had to read Watkins’s ‘How to Kill a Dragon’ so many times, and it’s always interesting to see how much we inherently desire to know about where our stories come from and the very first story (though, really, we will never truly know) www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

It’s here! The call for pitches for our deluxe December issue, “A Time of Monsters,” supported by a grant from the Kitchings Family Foundation.

shoutout to tumblr user kleinergeist for this post which is going straight into my powerpoint for Grendel day in my monster class this week

A really great and clear-eyed editorial by @danielpgrote.bsky.social for @comicsxf.com about the cancellation of Red Hood over at DC and the world of hypocrisy we live in. #comicsky

Just under one week left to submit!

👩‍🏫 Seeking medieval teaching support this academic year? 🧑‍🏫Consider joining our friends at TEAMS, the Consortium for the Teaching of the Middle Ages! Membership is free, and the support is priceless 🤝 teams-medieval.org/membership/ #medievalsky

SO EXCITED TO SHARE THIS! Announcing the Newberry Medieval Minicomic Prize: two juried mini-grants of $250.00 each to support emerging artists l for the creation of a new minicomic that engages with medieval culture. More details available here: www.newberry.org/calendar/new...

One week left to submit!

I've put up the new call for papers for the 2026 Romancing the Gothic programme! Come join us! (I welcome feedback) romancingthegothic.com/2025/09/02/r...

@necron-network.bsky.social is coming to @imc-leeds.bsky.social 2026! This in-person roundtable is open to all current NECRON members. To get involved, email Natalie Hopwood ([email protected]) with a short bio and a brief overview of what you want to say by 15th Sept.

Call for Papers - Medieval Temporalities and Comics Medieval Temporalities and Comics Leeds International Medieval Congress, 6th-9th July 2026 Hybrid Session Co-organized by Natalie Hopwood, University of Leeds and Michael A. www.themedievalacademyblog.org/call-for-pap...

The first meeting of MATER is happening on 19 September - if you'd like to join and haven't signed up yet, please email rachel dot moss at northampton dot ac dot uk!

If you see this, post a character you love and a character you...tolerate (Is there any other way to do this than the great Maddie v Jean debate?)

We are not trivialising LLMs. Copyright theft is not trivial. Environmental damage is not trivial. Unreliability is not trivial. Risk to human cognition is not trivial. Ignoring consent when shoving it into every fucking thing while making us pay our hard-earned money for it is not trivial.

I had no one to give recommendations when I was a kid, so my first trip to the comics store at 10 ended with me getting a volume of Ultimate X-Men… all I can recommend to people is to keep trying until you find a story you love and don’t listen to others opinions about what counts as a “good” comic

Medieval Temporalities and Comics @imc-leeds.bsky.social 6th-9th July 2026 Co-organized by Natalie Hopwood, University of Leeds and Michael A. Torregrossa, Bristol Community College (The Medieval Comics Project)

A golden chestnut from the archives: @bbeatrix.bsky.social writes about Hush, the JSA and James Robinson, Tony Harris et al's Starman comicsxf.com/2025/05/20/t...

📣 Attending #IMCLeeds2025 and work on the Medieval North? Come hang out with NECRON for a casual evening social! 🗓️ Weds 9 July 🕗 20:00 – meet at Parkinson Building 🍻 Social at The Library Pub after Meet fellow PhDs & ECRs in a chill, friendly setting. Stay as long as you like! Alcohol optional.

One week until IMC! I’ll be roundtabling on Monday with “How to Conference” and presenting on Tuesday with “Shedding Skin: Human Face and Monstrous Bodies in Old Norse Sagas”! Come see me chat about conference advice AND people tearing their skin to become dragons! @imc-leeds.bsky.social

Thinkinge of askinge Chat GPT a questioun about your plannes, thoughtes, ideas? Trye a tarot deck ynstead. Cheaper, bettir for the environment, bettir resultes, not evil.

Mahmoud Khalil is finally home with his beautiful wife and newborn son. Each one of the 104 days he spent detained was a grave injustice. From the moment of his detention, @ccrjustice.org + @aclu.org engaged my office as we worked closely to help secure his release. They did remarkable work here.

We've got a Fresh Friday Newspost starring a mischievous dragon! 🐲 This will be featured on the #IMC2025 souvenirs which you can buy at the IMC! 🎉 Why not take a read and learn more about our little friend.😊 www.imc.leeds.ac.uk/a-dragons-ta... #MedievalSky #SkyStorians

Reading the Ostrander run on The Spectre and Todd Klein’s lettering choices are some of the best I’ve ever scene in a comic before! Spectre himself, Michael, Etrigan, etc. Everyone gets something unique and really shows off the supernatural elements in the story!

Every Thor dies, baby, that's a fact. But maybe every Thor that dies someday comes back.

🚨HIT THE PHONES TO SAVE MEDICAID - PLEASE AMPLIFY & ACT 🚨 TODAY the House will be marking up deeply unpopular massive Medicaid cuts. MANY GOP on the committee are in tight districts. Calls and pressure ARE effective here. Call today. Type your zip to get a script ⬇️ OcasioCortez.com/savemedicaid

This weekend, Medievalist Natalie Hopwood joined us to talk Norse Revenants and survivals of the Undead into Modernity It was such a fun talk and so thought-provoking too! If you missed it, don't miss out! youtu.be/ixSWg18JAxY

Come see me chat about draugar and horror films tomorrow! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/old-norse-...

This is why universities are “the enemy”, why the arts need to be defunded, why humanities degrees are a “waste of time”. You cannot have authoritarianism without manipulating history first.

Pete Hegseth must resign or be fired immediately.

Leeds University Gothic. The amazing medievalist buildings on our campus. All photos by Iona McCleery. For further info on each building go to instagram @leedsims #medievalsky #gothicrevivalarchitecture

Tonight an unbelievable **34,000 people** gathered for our Denver rally to take on billionaires and win our country back. This was the largest political gathering in Denver since Obama in 2008. Also bigger than the 2024 DNC. And the largest ever rally in Bernie’s career (and obviously, mine too).

First of (hopefully) weekly PhD updates, have a read: open.substack.com/pub/natalieh...

The governing board for 2025/2026 has officially been announced. Please welcome the new board: Timothy Liam Waters Natalie Hopwood Rae Rivera Hannah Armstrong Hamza Aziz Erika Dell’Aquila Grace O’Duffy Piergiorgio Consagra Amrei Stanzel We look forward to serving you.