A top favorite thing - introduing 2 soul sisters in MY mind in real life. At Ottolenghi! Pure joy w/these literary powerhouses @deborahzafer.bsky.social of @saloneurope.bsky.social & Lucy Durneen, my great friend & prior #Cambridge MSt supervisor. Talking #poetry & #community & #intuition.

Hit command-F & search for Sinclair. As in Charlotte Sinclair's Aurora Prize FIRST PRIZE story of new motherhood. It's a beauty. Page 170. She does #interiority like nobody's business. writingeastmidlands.co.uk/wp-content/u...

Assumed this was AI and I was thinking well, then, Fine By Me... but if you read the comments it seems it's for real. Even better. DJ Padre Guilherme is on youtube.

Last chance to book for 2 online workshops happening very soon. This Sunday 23rd as part of our workshop series, we are exploring Rhythm and The Ballad. Join us! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/exploring-...

Anyone know who might publish a slightly fugue-state #lowbloodsugar poem I just wrote? It's got some profanity because it pretty much tracks my real-time, real-life glucose descent/ascent. Any #chronicillness mags or #T1D or #autoimmune or other submission ideas? I should know already, but I don't.

Wes Anderson! I heard about this exhibit in London on the radio, so I had to imagine all the visuals that might accompany the story. Had to look it up here. So many movies! So much #color! #puppets #candypink It's on till July. www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3-P...

Thanks for the nudge, @marinasofia.bsky.social

Great little video on book cover design! So many iterations! I was halfway into it before noticing it was produced by/posted by the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan. How cool is that?

Look @nancyfreund.bsky.social 👀 v useful for Berlin and Madrid www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/...

When I 1st saw word online about the CONCEPT of a European Writers Salon, this is exactly what I imagined. And it's here! Happening in Paris! Sorry I couldn't make it this weekend, but what a fabulous thing to see in action, even if only in pictures this time. Rock on EWS! @saloneurope.bsky.social

Serious FOMO.

Most of the news, with or without closed captions, is hard to watch. Hard to hear. However, the incorrect caption I just read, showing the word "sickopants" is a tiny joy.

I’ve just learned from #paulainsworth on @saturdaykitchen that you can use a tomato vine in roast potatoes and veg like a bay leaf. Extra scent and flavor! I’m so thrilled.

These new Zweifel Truffle Cashews I got at the petrol station smell and taste exactly (somehow) like the dry gin martini my father drank every night after work, "olive and a twist, both, please." To this day I've never had a sip of one, so this Proustian moment is impossible to explain. Madeleine?

This isn't a random thing. It's my friend Ken, a real person, a really GOOD person. And his partner Jude, who's really great too. I hope posting this might help. Feel free to share it further. That would be wonderful. youtu.be/WLHv0Z_7rHw

Quick reminder: NYC’s new First Lady, Rama Duwaji, is a cartoonist! www.comicsbeat.com/zohran-mamda...

Once in a blue moon I write a poem.

I've studied much #poetry in academic settings, often super boring & I can say THIS 1st session on sonnets was a delight. Interesting, inspiring, organized, substantial. Can't wait for Rhythm & Ballad in session 2. TY, @saloneurope.bsky.social.

true.

Every school & summer camp & Rotary exchange & literary conference or retreat I've attended... it's the people who stick around afterwards - zoom, emails, socials, in person - who truly make the thing. Last night's mtg w/#LucyCaldwell's Short Stories 3 die-hards was brilliant. So smart! So generous!

Sad I couldn't make it! I KNOW it was fabulous.

Last night's EWS @saloneurope.bsky.social #poetry session w/French poet Julie Irigaray was GOOD! I'm glad I'm in the full course. Next one - November 23. #Alexandrine Metre has 12 syllables per line... Take that, #IambicPentameter of my youth! It's for all levels, so if you're tempted, join!

In high school we had a bar called Someplace Nice. In college we had a bar called Father’s Office. Now I’m a full-fledged grown up in a bar called Study Hall. I’m not with a load of drunk pals though… I’m with a good book. And a pen. So there’s that.

I’m very good at finding my next #book for the European Writers Salon book club in fabulous bookstores, but I gotta admit I’m terrible at taking selfies. That’s “I Who Have Never Known Men” by Jacqueline Harpman in front of Pegasus Books in Berkeley California.

💙

Rest in peace brilliant Ashleigh Brilliant. 1933-2025. Santa Barbara. Berkeley. London. 💙

So begins the most beautiful wedding imaginable. So many #flowers!

Cool!

I'm in Switzerland. Neighbour's playing basketball in the driveway, solo, and the sound of it makes all seem right in the world. Especially somehow when his shot misses and he groans & says a thing in French.

Turns out there's a LOT more Taylor Swift music out there than I realized. Every time I go exploring, I really like her stuff, (didn't really know it till she got together with Travis Kelce -- I'm a KC girl) but now I'll really dive in. My answer too: Evermore. 🤎 I'll start there.

Arthur Sze has been named the new U.S. poet laureate. He succeeds Ada Limón, who has held the position since 2022. During his term as poet laureate, Sze plans to have a special focus on translating poetry originally written in other languages. Read more: at.pw.org/ArthurSze

Having personally cut and (in)expertly folded a boatload of these, I can say they're fabulous to create, and I can't wait to try to roll the dice with my writing. And I do NOT claim responsibility for any wonky ones. TY EWS for an outstanding #writerly experience in Brussels! #ewsbrussels2025

Hooray! More Michael Rosen!

I've been #T1D for 33 years. Tom & Crystel's youtube is really valuable! This one on #morning blood sugars is especially good - even when you've been working hard to fine tune 24/7 for 3 decades plus. #hydration #movement #split-long-acting-insulin www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ipm... #diabetes

Every two years… Always an inspiring event for writers at all levels of development, from all over the world. GWG conference is about to happen again.

Excited to meet #author Serghei Sadohin in September at the @saloneurope.bsky.social. Great article here looking at Europe through an Alice in Wonderland lens. uphttps://www.brusselstimes.com/1537663/off-with-their-heads-is-not-europes-way

Richard Russo's 2007 novel 'Bridge of Sighs' is #Oprah's current #bookclub pick. His writing & his teaching are enormously important & gorgeous. This interview's been up for 11 hours & it's already had nearly 30k views. #WONDERFUL. www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKYW....

There's some really important stuff here in this thread. When the data is lacking and/or biased, it's so valuable to get info like this, and then follow up everywhere you can. It covers way more than #menopause and #fibroids.

With insulin, it was protected from the start: FREE & available to all. When I'm in Europe or the UK, it's very affordable. But in the US I was shocked by the price & lack of access. No wonder people have to ration & risk their lives. This is WONDERFUL news about this HIV drug & its availability.

“The first HIV drug that offers 100% protection… The makers are also providing affordable access to the drug in the US and beyond, signing royalty-free licensing agreements with six generic manufacturers to produce and supply”

I've just read the program for the inaugural September @saloneurope.bsky.social #writers event in Brussels & WOW. Spoiled for choice! There might be about 7 spots left, so if you're thinking yeah, maybe I'd like to go, get on it! Poems, panels, prompts, publishing, meditation, migration, & more.

"I want your loves to be multiple. I don't want you to be a snob about anything. Anything you love, you do it! It's got to be with a great sense of fun. Writing is not a serious business. It's a joy and a celebration..." - Ray Bradbury, speaking at Point Loma Nazarene on UCTV

I'm not sure what podcast or blogpost led me to this #poem yesterday, but I can't stop thinking about it. If I retrace my steps and find out, I'll give credit due. And a big THANK YOU. "Things Shouldn't Be So Hard" by Kay Ryan. #Truth. wordsfortheyear.com/2020/06/12/t...

This will make 4000+ people thrilled! My 24yo son just discovered the fact that you signed our family's copy of 'Bear Hunt' for him & his older bro in Cambridge a few months ago, & it was straight JOY for all of us. @michaelrosenyes.bsky.social, you're THE BEST.

The annual takahē Monica Taylor Poetry Prize honours the memory of poet Monica Taylor, with the generous assistance of her whānau, and with the kaupapa of encouraging new generations of poets. 💚First Prize: $300 & publication in takahē #115 💚Runner-up: $150 www.takahe.org.nz/competitionn...

"I'm really uncomfortable with the word 'should' in anything to do with writing anything," -- Ali Smith in EWWC speech posted August 19, 2012.

Convinced the biggest human need is for CONNECTION vs belonging. I posted an instagram pic - 4 bales of hay. Wrote "Hay! Hay! Hay! Hay!" 1 great friend I haven't seen in yonks commented w/a dance gif saying simply "don't you forget about me." Sublime. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cdqo...

VERY interesting for #T1Ds who rightly worry about the ridiuclously named dead-in-bed syndrome. Just as exciting as when out-of-range blood glucose alarms first becamse available. If not more. news.mit.edu/2025/implant...

It's not easy to gross me out, but @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social you've done it. Impressive.

I split-dose bolus for high carb (even if low-fat) meals, like lunch today - spaghetti & mushrooms. It works pretty well. Even so, I always feel like this meal is probably ill-advised. But it's NOT ill-advised! It's how to live well with #typeonediabetes. Look! www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8bJ...