Fatemeh Shams remembers Marjane Satrapi.

🗣️ Medievalists! 🏰 Check out this page, we’ve done a reconstruction the medieval chapel at Chester Castle! www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places... Please share widely! There’s loads of info and *lovely* images from the repertoire of medieval art - and also more reconstructions!

I was digging around on wikipedia today and happened to come across this very good painting of Fancy Men Bamboozled By Egg

34: Critical Raw Materials opens today! This temporary exhibition is free! At a time of rising geopolitical tensions and growing competition over the resources needed for clean energy, modern technology and defence, there has never been a more timely moment to shine a spotlight on them.

New macroeconomic modelling concludes electrification and clean tech are absolutely key to UK growth and energy security. Stands to reason that much more efficient technologies and homegrown power are better for productivity and security. www.businessgreen.com/news/4531207...

Hear hear. There's an overabundance of 'raise your kids with this specific tradition or belief / this anti-science conspiracy / this raw milk and they'll be happy' advice out there, when the answer is simple: a relatively equal society. Universal education, universal health care. Gadzooks

nijmegen citizen here. the walking events are nice, but that’s only four days. I think it’s much more important that we don’t have prison walls around our schools, kids are listened to and trusted to play outside, the dutch love work/life balance, and indeed most of them are not living in poverty.

Amazing that SH is nearly halfway already. Thank you so much to all who’ve donated, can confirm it means a lot. 💜 In fact, another review has been unlocked: @notquitehydepark.bsky.social on @adamroberts.bsky.social’s Short History of Fantasy. Important review of important book. (It’s how we roll.)

"A teenage social media ban is the digital equivalent of seeing our parks full of needles, broken glass, and violent thugs – and deciding that a “KEEP OUT IF YOU’RE UNDER 18” sign stuck on the entrance is enough." www.jamesrball.com/p/a-teen-soc...

How stunning is this oak tree? 🌳 #folklore #trees #pagan

Of all the many interdimensional portals to be found in the British countryside, the 'Green-Lane-As-Tunnel-To-Paradise' type of interdimensional portal is definitely one of my favourites.

For the love of Jane Yolen... The people we admire most, those whose work inspires us, always seem to leave too soon. And so I light a candle in a metaphorical icon: this time for Jane Yolen, because her memory is really and truly a blessing. www.instagram.com/p/DZe9Xy2iKZA/

Ah, this one is hard. I owe a part of my writer soul to this great lady, who was always there, in the shelf, when I needed her. Vale Jane Yolen, go well. The world is a smaller place without you.

This women's group wanted to raise £1,000 to help the victims of last night's attacks in Belfast. It's already at £56,000. chuffed.org/project/1854...

sylvia townsend warner in 1926, foreseeing the type of author who would use AI:

An ancient tree, one I like to call ‘The Screamer’ 🪾

UK folks, let's jump on this AI regulation petition the Society of Authors emailed out! It's an actual parliament one so the government HAS to respond if it reaches the signature threshold. It calls for regulations to make AI developers disclose copyrighted works trained on. Sign & repost!! ❤️

With love and appreciation for someone whose story resonated with so many of us. www.instagram.com/p/DZP_rr3CGhu/

In today's inbox: three requests to work for free. One would cost me £190 in rail fare, another would cost me at least 40 hours of work, and the last says "we don't have a budget for speakers, but we can promise a nice lunch." Folks, if you're paying the caterers, you can pay your speaker.

Since we're paying tribute to Anthony Head, what's your favorite Giles moment or episode of Buffy? Mine is definitely Band Candy, when rebellious youth-brained Giles steals that dope coat for Joyce and beats up a cop.

Huge loss...

💭 🎬 L'artiste franco-iranienne Marjane Satrapi, qui s'est fait mondialement connaître avec la bande dessinée et le film "Persepolis", est décédée à l'âge de 56 ans, a annoncé son entourage jeudi à l'AFP.

A little blog I wrote for @booktrust.org.uk is now up! 🏛️🏺🏛️https://www.booktrust.org.uk/book-recommendations/booklists/6-awesome-retellings-of-greek-myths/

Since this piece is so well liked I'm using this opportunity to let anyone interested know that I'm still looking for more work! Be it portraits, book covers full illustrations etc. I'm open to anything! #art #artwork #medieval

I'm back with another book report on a new discovery (for me): Alex Peby's 'Mordew'. In brief: God is dead, and his rotting corpse animates the mud of the city of Mordew with flukes or half-living creatures. I enjoyed this but was a bit stumped by the ending: www.instagram.com/p/DY94bxqCHSN/

For lack of anything better to do, Milo drove slowly up to the tollbooth. As he deposited his coin and rolled past he remarked wistfully, “I do hope this is an interesting game, otherwise the afternoon will be so terribly dull.”

No one: No one at all: Me: Except why didn't they just forget the story about yet another stupid apocalypse and send Crowley and Aziraphale off to solve cozy crimes in a small English village Me: Me: The vicar did it

Ursula K Le Guin: Conversations on Writing returns this fall in a gorgeous refreshed edition. You can pre-order it here: zandoprojects.com/books/ursula... @ursulakleguin.com @zandoprojects.bsky.social @tinhouse.bsky.social

Our feature artist/reference today is this ASTOUNDING piece of animation by the talented @Studiocachette! Look at those incredibly dynamic but CLEAR key frame poses - PERFECT SILHOUETTES! Note too how even the environmental DEBRIS moves with CHARACTER and WEIGHT! #animation

People don't long for "inconvenience." They long for permanence. And though streaming services may be convenient, people are waking up to the fact that we are paying rent-seeking middle men month after month for things we will never actually own.

BIG DISCOVERY: Scientists discover new variety of just a lil guy

So let me tell you somethin sister Remember your name No twister Gonna steal your stuff away

Leigh is always so smart and right.

Pražský orloj (Prague Astronomical Clock), Prague, Czech Republic, August 11, 2024, Whenever #photography #eastcoastkin #ColorADay #YellowThu #AlphabetChallenge #WeekTForTime #UrbanGaze #Urbanphotography #ArtYear #PhotographersofBluesky

Most of Britain thinks net migration is still rising — when it has actually fallen by more than three-quarters From our new 2026 @britishfuture.bsky.social study of public attitudes to immigration, published online here www.britishfuture.org/britain-thin...

Tickets going fast for this event with: @louiestowell.bsky.social @darrenchetty.bsky.social @clairelinney.bsky.social and J.T.Williams do come and join us! bit.ly/3PN5PUt

Up now on my Publishing Peptalk substack. A business-y one this time: When you write children's books, who is your customer? (illustration by @leiremartn from Little Fairy Godmother)

Do you love children’s books? Are you a writer? Parent? Teacher? This is the place to be!! @bandroll.bsky.social @indiebookspotlight.com @zyvara.bsky.social #childrensbooks #parents #teachers #12x12 #booksky

It was such a pleasure to write the Foreward to this sumptuous volume by two of my favourite folklorists: Dr. Sara Cleto and Dr. Brittany Warman, creators of the online Carterhaugh School for Folklore and the Fantastic: @carterhaughschool.bsky.social.

I am not worried software is suddenly going to decide it wants power over humanity. I am worried about what people who already have power over humanity can do with that software.

The only consolation in the writing life (poor sales, anxiety, powerlessness) is the writing. So do that.

Please don't look away. And, having read the quoted post, please, if you're able, be sure to smile at strangers, chat to neighbours, shop locally, take public transport and actively support your community with kindness, energy and good humour

An author might in fact offer you gold and glory in exchange for the life of your firstborn child, but I guarantee that the author in question is not human and the gold will promptly turn into a pile of dead leaves

Over David Attenborough’s lifetime the natural world has become ever more eroded. On his 100th birthday let’s use #KidsBooksFriday to celebrate children’s books that carry on his environmental legacy, help us delight in nature and encourage us to protect its future. #KidLitUK #UKKidLit #KidLit

A thread on using disabled artists as an excuse to support genAI. really think that the pushers of this tech fail to understand that the internal experience of producing something creative is *at least* as important as what you make. Removing yourself from the experience can defeat the purpose.

Timeline cleanse

WRITERS BEWARE! Scammers are out in full force. I received this email today. The scammer is pretending to be: Alvina Ling Editor-In-Chief | Hachette Book Group, Little, Brown Book. They are actually: Gilberto Morales from California #writer #author #booksky #booktalk #editors #scammer #editing