First time in years we are home for trick or treaters for various reasons but most of all because I will be damned if I am missing the opportunity to answer the door with a baby dressed in a pumpkin outfit

A bold choice, commissioning Philip Larkin for your bedtime story book

Happy birthday last weekend to our wise and beautiful hound. She loves ivy and fish, & is scared of bees & advent calendars.

I don't particularly care for Jane Eyre *ducks*

My oldest child is 14 years young today! She came to us as a bouncy not-quite-7-year-old and remains a knockout, if a bit creaky. Happy Birthday Dogface! 🎈

Bob Dylan, _Infidels_ ...which is as a result as well as being comfortably the worst Dylan album, is also my favourite

Goethe got got!

Mary Hamilton and her networks: Gender, sociability, manuscript. Important (we would think so, wouldn't we?) special issue of JECS, now in copy-editing. Intro + 4 research papers by the team (see www.maryhamiltonpapers.alc.manchester.ac.uk/further-read...) + 5 outside contributions. #18thC #langsky

The only suitable replacement for Melvyn on In Our Time

Rock Looked Way Cooler Wet

My policy of not posting images of the baby on social media is being sorely tested by the impression of the dog she is currently workshopping

Please help me share the CFP for this Literature Compass Special Issue dedicated to the work of Simon J James and covering key Victorian and Edwardian writers like H. G. Wells, George Gissing, Dickens, Wilde, George Du Maurier, and Conan-Doyle on behalf of Hadas Elber-Aviram.

"What is actually prolific and relevant to the majority are low-cost technologies that solve day-to-day business and social problems." Yes! Enough of the billionaires and their big tech. ‘Frugal tech’ will build us all a better world | Eleanor Drage www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Baby: hi mum I have a new noise I can make I won't spoil the surprise but you'll know when you hear it Me: cool cool cool can't wait anyway time to go to sleep baby Baby: *articulated lorry doing emergency stop* 🙃

UoL colleagues, this looks like a fantastic programme!

I regularly buy a dozen bottles of Badger Ale and 2 packs of mushrooms at my local supermarket. I put them on the conveyor belt in that order hoping the cashier will burst into song as they put them through the till, but they never do.

Apropos of #LKFS2025 today:

Conferencing mum-style at #LKFS2025

Just booked a ticket for the Bring Your Own Baby screening of Clueless at my local cinema because Paul Rudd in his "back when I first had my creepy attic portrait painted" era is the definition of One For The Mums

The dog maintains that she is not technically on the baby's mat if her bum isn't on the baby's mat

Want to bid but your archive/library lacks the funds? Don't forget that you can apply to us for an acquisition grant and we can make speedy decisions!

We did it! Two days of conference and minimal meltdowns. Audrey was fine too #IIIF #ConferenceBaby

I can't believe I missed #NationalGreyhoundDay. Headed like a snake! Neck like a drake!

I’ve just seen that our local support charity for children with disabilities, which is fundraising to cover its costs, was featured in a story on the bbc website a few days ago. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... They are a lifeline to many. Please consider donating. www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding...

The middle of the greyhound bsky/glam bsky venn diagram is a sweet spot 🐶 📜 *Here's* a good tike Of which there are few like

Have a deadline this month for something v small I agreed to before I knew I would be on leave, and feel like if I can meet this commitment with a still-tiny baby, my brain might one day recover from current mush-state. Anyway, hope the editors enjoy rambling notes I wrote on my phone while she naps

The great thing about having very small kids is you can cancel social engagements with the non-specific "somebody had a tantrum" and people generously assume it wasn't in fact you, an adult

My new article on rock, Romanticism, and Lacan is a love letter to P J Harvey AND a love letter to David Sigler, one of the editors of Romanticism on the Net whose Lacanian literary criticism inspired my own. It was fun to write and I hope you’ll enjoy reading it:

Okay, I got rid of that bathwater like you asked, but promise me you won't be angry about something

It’s officially publication day!! I can’t quite believe it. After years of thinking, writing, planning, & editing: it’s here. I’m so grateful to my agent & everyone at The Bodley Head for the incredible work. If you’re in Scotland, come to the launch tomorrow

We are on holiday and so is the dog. She has a whole other crew at her dog sitter's local park and it's like the cast of Lady and the Tramp

The University of Glasgow & the British Library have announced a fully funded PhD Studentship on "Fanfiction and Online Fan Communities: Collecting Practice and Inclusion in a National Collection" www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships...

Your reminder that Gjon's Tears should have won in 2021 #Eurovision

@arry-k-arry.bsky.social on Armenia: "well it's not for me but I'm happy for all the mums in the audience" #Eurovision

Really enjoyed the Latvian entry from Jacob's Ladder's Pans People, I like my euro bangers nightmarish [complimentary] #Eurovision

best unicode character is "ꙮ" without a doubt. used one time in a single 15th century manuscript to emphasise "many-eyed seraphim" and unicode thought it was really important that we can type that whenever we want

Slightly trepidatious about my first conference with a baby in tow, if you are at #IIIF 2025 in Leeds this June and I even vaguely know you, be warned you may be required to dandle her while I scoff lunch/run to the loo/slope off for a sneaky nap. Thanks for having us @iiif.bsky.social !

So pleased and proud that our research has been recognised in the York Open Research Awards! Thanks to brilliant team inc. @historyhannahb.bsky.social @crulph.bsky.social & others not On Here. Find out more about the research & edition here: www.maryhamiltonpapers.alc.manchester.ac.uk

RIP Henry James you would have loved the story of an American from the Midwest who enters a world of European intrigue

a thing i find unrealistic in movies is villain origin stories. i just think the reason the scientist went rogue is more likely: -another update to the online learning environment or -ordering catering for a meeting for 8 people. honestly makes ME want to move into the field of death ray research

I may be on leave but Ellie still has to attend meetings

The School of History at Leeds is offering a BAME Doctoral Scholarship starting in October 2025! Potential postgraduate researchers from Black, Asian and other minoritised ethnic groups who are eligible for the Home/UK rate of tuition fees can read more and apply here:

That gap in my resume? That was when I circulated my manuscripts to an elite circle of courtiers to avoid the stigma of print

BARS is delighted to announce that the 2026 International Biennial Conference will be held at the University of Birmingham. The theme is Romantic Retrospection. Weds 29th- Fri 31st July 2026 (with additional online elements held around the in-person conference) www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=5908

Isn't this just ...tax? Like, we could tax people according to their income and then use that to fund infrastructure? Am I taking crazy pills?!! www.theguardian.com/money/2025/a...

Sun safety is no joke

David has opened the back door and allowed a BREEZE into the house and this is UNACCEPTABLE

10 days left to apply for a paid internship with EMCO this summer!

I’m hiring! Come and work with me, our brilliant collections, the Department of Information Studies and Wikidata this summer: