Sharing stories with fellow authors of worst events they’ve done and just depressing how so many have had experience of doing events for free and NOT selling any books. My advice to new authors: they’ll tell you this is how to sell books. It’s not. It’s way for other people to benefit from your work

The Granta controversy surrounding a Commonwealth Prize-winning story tells us less about AI than about the enduring metropolitan expectation that writing from the South should sound opaque, excessive, and primitive. africasacountry.com/2026/05/how-...

After multiple winners of the 2026 Commonwealth Short Story Prize were accused of enlisting generative artificial intelligence to write for them, statements from the institutions involved just raised more questions, and the authors aren't talking. Are AI literary scandals the new plagiarism?

My blog post about the troubles at TouchPoint Press, with many updates. A reminder that a publisher doesn't have to be an intentional fraud to damage writers and their careers. writerbeware.blog/2023/06/30/s...

#OtD 13 May 1935 workers loading bananas in Oracabessa, Jamaica, went on strike, rioted, cut power lines and blocked roads to stop scabs. British colonial authorities sent in armed police to suppress the strike, but strikes continued to spread stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8504...

The hill I will die on: Heavy, awkward and incredibly expensive – we don’t need hardback books | Larry Ryan

One aim of the Society on BlueSky is to highlight organisations and opportunities that support historians and the humanities. One to promote is @britishacademy.bsky.social's UK-wide Early Career Researcher Network bit.ly/4f2H3tF which offers training, funding, peer support and events #Skystorians

‘I was mortally offended’: writers on the throwaway comments that changed their lives

A cartoon for #IndieBookstoreDay, which is tomorrow! Get out to your local bookstore! www.indiebound.org/

This is a widespread scam impersonating multiple editors. The emails all contain similar language. The goal: referrals for paid scam services. My blog post goes into detail: writerbeware.blog/2026/03/27/w...

#OtD 3 Apr 1974 1000 school pupils in Brixton, London, most of them Black, came out on strike in support of three Black youths who had been jailed after police attacked a crowd of people in Brockwell Park. They marched to the court and police station stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/1015...

Jamaica doing the right thing and boycotting this summers World Cup in the USA. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾🇯🇲

📣 Call for Papers – Summer Conference The Ecclesiastical History Society invites 20-minute paper proposals on the theme 'The Church and Race'. We welcome contributions from scholars at all career stages. 🗓 Submission deadline: 15 April 2026 #CFP #ChurchHistory #Skystorians

Join us, and expert historians, tomorrow at 12.30pm online for 'Historical Context: Modern Iran' bit.ly/4uVosp6 In this 60-minute lunchtime session, 3 specialists offer perspectives on the Middle East conflict: with Maziyar Ghiabi, Louise Kettle and Johan Franzén. Booking available #Skystorians

General Submissions for Translunar Travelers Lounge are open. We are looking for speculative fiction stories, 5000 words or fewer. Please read the guidelines. We're looking forward to them! translunartravelerslounge.com/submissions/

Historical writers! The 2026 HWA Crown Awards are open for entries until 30 April. Celebrating the best historical fiction and non-fiction books published between April 25 and March 26. If that's you, find out how to enter at historicalwriters.org/awards/hwa-c... Please pass the news on! #histfic

I've posted a lot of info about impersonation scams from the POV of targeted authors...but the people who're being impersonated suffer too. Here's agent Sally Ekus's experience of discovering an elaborate scam impersonating her notsosecretagent.substack.com/p/is-sally-e...

The next closing date for applications to join the Royal Historical Society - as a Fellow, Associate Fellow, Member or Postgraduate Member - is Monday 9 March. We invite applications for each of our membership categories about which you'll find more here: bit.ly/4rM2H9h #Skystorians 1/2

Historical writers! The HWA awards are open for 2026! 👑Enter the Gold, Non-fiction or Debut Crown if you're an author published 2025-6 ✍️Or the HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Competition with your unpublished short historical fiction. Details: historicalwriters.org/awards Please tell your friends

A scammer is impersonating Poets & Writers (on right: the scam solicitation). They created a fake website scraped from P&W at a lookalike URL. When P&W got that taken down, they slapped up the site screenshotted on left; note the false claim in the red banner at the top (also the obv AI images)

📣 Whether you've just read a piece on our website or attended even one of our events, we want to hear from you ... please fill out our 5-minute readership survey to help a small arts organisation like ours grow and improve our work. buff.ly/rjbCDiF

It was believed in medieval times that hedgehogs had spikes so they could roll over fruit to carry home to their children, which is not true but is a really cute idea

These are your words of the week Boricua ferment clemency redacted rebuff freestyle disenfranchise zugzwang www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/the...

Questionable 1700s treatment for melancholy... rubbing yourself all over with nettles

A recent cartoon for @theguardian.com

In the nearly three months since Category 5 Hurricane Melissa hit Jamaica, WCK teams have been standing with Jamaicans as they recovered. Our efforts evolved to meet the needs of the communities we supported, but our goal to help families impacted by the storm never wavered. (1/2)

Celebrating Jamaica / Finding hope in the face of disaster... the hurricane that hit Jamaica was only a couple of months ago. Huddersfield Parish Church are holding a service in aid of hurricane relief. 1st Feb, 4pm, Huddersfield. @leeds.anglican.org

Today is National Thesaurus Day. Personally, we find these made-up holidays contemptible, abhorrent, nauseating, repugnant, and unpalatable.

What historical books by HWA members are being published this year? Find out in our brand-new list, featuring summaries of almost 100 books, fiction and non-fiction. Spanning Ancient Greece and Rome to post-war Britain, they're all at historiamag.com/historical-books-2026 Happy New reading Year!

We send a last thank you and goodby to the members of the literary community we lost in 2025.

The Jamaican Patty is finally getting its flowers. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

Our first free online member workshop of 2026 will focus on how to network the room as a deaf, disabled or neurodivergent writer Led by Amanda Graham, it takes place on 15 Jan, 1-2pm Live captions + a BSL interpreter will be available Find out more: forms.office.com/pages/respon...

In a world where you can be anything, be kind to nature. From climate change to disasters, our planet is under pressure — yet nature holds the key to resilience and life itself. Let’s act with kindness towards nature, which sustains us all. Take action: https://www.unep.org/topics/nature-action

Melissa unleashed upon us in St James. Most people lost part or all roof and some everything. My roof is partially gone, but habitable, thankfully. No power, telecoms or water at home. We go downtown to crouch around generators to charge phones😔

🇯🇲 Well, last night's sunset did not lie. Strong, howling winds and heavy rain all night into this morning, and conditions will continue to deteriorate. No power in my area. Melissa has not even arrived yet.

🇯🇲Tonight's vivid sunset as Hurricane Melissa crawls closer and is projected to make landfall tomorrow.

Just under two weeks left to enter the annual GBP Short Story Prize - one of the highlights of our year, and where, for 2025/26, we'll be joined by two brilliant writers and one brilliant literary agent as judges (Sam Mills, Selby Wynn Schwartz, and Sebastian Godwin: www.galleybeggar.co.uk/prize

🇯🇲Beautiful sunset which is literally the calm before the storm... or rather Hurricane. Melissa has been threatening for days now and likely to hit tomorrow. Rained on and off today, with light to moderate winds. #StormHour #PhotoHour #HurricaneMelissa

Vampire moths might sound more horror film than natural world, but they’re 100% real! 😱 See why some moths pick human blood over fruit juice in this week’s Surprising Science. 🩸🦇

Ghosts at Chester Castle eh? There really is a special place in British culture for our love of a spooky tale...from late 19C writers to the BBC at Christmas. And, it's a genuine gateway into history; a ghost story can do more for a site than any trad marketing! www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Booker prize launches £50,000 children’s award

The approach of Tropical Storm Melissa has forced the postponement. Fingers crossed the island will be in one piece come Monday...

This Sunday in MoBay, St James, check out my 45-minute slot for a reading, reasoning and book signing. You could win a free copy of MAD DOCTOR for a chilling Halloween read!💀

Printed posthumously, Joseph Glanvill's 'Saducismus Triumphatus' recounted hundreds of stories to prove the existence of witches & spirits. It includes the first recorded account of a poltergeist, the 'Drummer of Tedworth', illustrated in the top left of the engraved title page.

Our AGM week 2025 is dedicated to Author Care. With discussions around transparency, support and inclusion, communication and self-care, we ask how authors and publishing professionals can work better together and how authors can find support if needed.

Archaeologists have found records of Ancient Egyptian excuses for missing work. They include ‘the scorpion bit him’, ‘brewing beer’, ‘drinking with Khonsu’ and ‘embalming his brother’.

National Army Museum identifies portrait of Black Waterloo veteran: www.theguardian.com/culture/2025... #Hstory #BlackHistory 🗃️

We’re at the Black British Book Festival in London today - come say hi!

I am THRILLED to announce that ARCHIVAL IRRUPTIONS is officially published with @dukepress.bsky.social! For those who would like to order the book, you can get 30% off using coupon code E25GRBNR at this link: www.dukeupress.edu/archival-irr...

Baek Sehee, the author of I WANT TO DIE BUT I WANT TO EAT TTEOKBOKKI has passed away. She was 35. The Korean organ donation authority reports that Sehee saved five lives through her donation of her heart, lungs, liver, and both kidneys.