Publishers, publicity peeps, take note, I'm back in the saddle for Wigtown Book Festival 2026. Please send catalogues, AI sheets, proofs. Using [email protected] email again (after a year off). Writers, please have publishers get in touch! www.wigtownbookfestival.com/blog/welcome...

Cat like a parrot day here.

Cumberland Flowers, 1946, painting by Winifred Nicholson (1893-1981). #WomensArt

Gosh, Pauline Collins gone.

Her relaxation schedule is exhausting, I tell you.

Writers. Annual deadline to register your year's work with ALCS is November 30. If you haven't already registered with them, please, please do. It is literal free money, and the necessary admin is almost certainly the best-paid hour's work you'll do all year. www.alcs.co.uk

Two weeks to go! We hope to see you there - there will be lots and lots of booky goodies!

Marcella Giulia Pace, Italian astrophotographer who took ten years to capture 48 colours of the moon #WomensArt (via Amazing Physics) #FullMoon

Reading the proof of Sally Magnuson’s next novel, The Shapeshifter’s Daughter. Doing an event with her later this month. Two timelines and two worlds, one of which plunges readers into the intricacies of Norse mythology. Fans of that pantheon are going to love it!

Launching a thousand ships, this kid, that face.

Woof

I knew it would take less than a day for a tiktok dj to make something.

@hallierubenhold.bsky.social Loved listening to the new series. Sharing some social history that I'm particular fond of: tenementtown.com threadinburgh.scot

Current events

More #buyastrangerabook day magic. @spidergravy.bsky.social is offering to buy someone any book by Patrick Ness. Here are a few to choose from. If there are any you fancy, get in touch. UK only.

Got around to listening to this and oh my giddy aunt, my tenterhooks could not be sharper. And finally became a supporter, so I can be in with the tribe.

Hate to break it to Jasmine but Yellow Kite (Hodder) is already bringing out a Pistachio Lover's Cookbook in May of next year.

Quick play session before breakfast

Sound on. Tear in my eye.

@hallierubenhold.bsky.social dismantles the Great Man model of history. Lovely stuff! #historyteacher I am fully here for the profoundly messy lives of social history. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Quick play session before breakfast

Amazing waking up to good news from my home state. I hadn’t dared to dream. #NYHasANewMayor

I find the pressure to spend around Christmas quite bleak. But some things are beautiful & do good! I'm proud to be the chair of the charity Makani, which supports women in Lebanon who make exquisite blankets, bags & cushions. Perfect presents for people with taste and heart. oshana.co.uk/blankets

Already sick to the back teeth of Christmas adverts.

They all worked so hard! #GBBO

RAISING HARE, Chloe Dalton's magical true story of caring for an injured hare has won the @booksaremybag.bsky.social Readers Award for Non-Fiction! Congratulations @chloedalton.bsky.social, and thank you to the readers and booksellers who've connected with Hare. #ReadersAwards #ChooseBookshops

Gift article and it's interesting and sweet (and I can't remember these episodes, alas): www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/a...

DGAF about iced buns. Silly girl.

@danmud.bsky.social by the way did people mention that this is coming in march: www.amazon.co.uk/Silence-Lite...

@naomialderman.bsky.social Hello Naomi. May I ask who handles your publicity, notably for Don't Burn Anyone at the Stake Today (as being most recent). Thanks!

I launched a Crowdfunder with the amazing @gracequantock.bsky.social with the aim of getting Grace's book on Chronic Illness into UK health centres. We hit our first target of £1,100. Now we're looking to get it into even more places. HERE tinyurl.com/4fdtxmv8 please help/share. THANKS!

🏛️ PODYSSEY SEASON 2 - All the details! 📜 What. Where. When. 🍊 open.spotify.com/episode/6Aw1... 🍏 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a... @sturdyalex.bsky.social

Louise on the beach in a still from Diary of a Lost Girl (1929).

Why did I think Tom Daley was only about 5’ tall?

I’m doing research for a project and found out about the “don’t buy where you can’t work” movement during the depression, where Black people boycotted and picketed places that wouldn’t hire us. Shout out to everyone who’s not going back to Target!

My series ‘Intimate Histories’ about how history is not some abstract thing that happened to someone else, but personal to all of us is now available on BBC Sounds. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/serie...

I’ve just launched my #Christmas Gift Guide Here’s an offer that might tempt you to have a look www.gailmyerscough.co.uk/christmas-gi...

MY BIG CLEAR OUT! (part 2) Here are 3 shelves of my books in A-Z order by author. You can have any 2 for £10 (free P+P). Please share (and buy). UK only.

Oh for the love of dog! People, unless you are experiencing a medical emergency, you do NOT stop on stairs. Not at the top, not at the middle, not at the bottom. How many times must I say this?

Gift article www.nytimes.com/2025/11/02/a...

Coming soon. A forgotten #sci-fi #dystopian classic, first published 90 years ago and now reissued with an introduction by Graham Norton and a brand new cover commissioned from @tomgauld.bsky.social - pre-orders are open and shipping is worldwide! #booksky manderleypress.com/shop/p/womanalive

Finished this and WHAT a stirring book about the way women deny themselves the chance to flourish when they become enmeshed in the idea of what roles they should fulfil. Great insights. www.peirenepress.com/shop/books/s...

My asshole brain kept me up last night wondering, is the bikini yellow or are the polka dots? And then THIS fresh hell gets added to the mix when I try to find out! Watch to the end. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge9O...

Agree about the name of the show, and hope there'll be no cause for invoking this as its theme tune: www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZJi...

A NEW CHRISTMAS THING! The Big Green Books Advent Calendar! Choose from 4, 6 or 12 books. Your chance to unwrap a new surprise book every few days in the run up to Christmas. The books will be chosen based on what you enjoy reading. More info HERE www.biggreenbookshop.com/simon-likes-...

That made me homesick.

"The Festive Big Green Book Swap" is back! Let me know the kind of stuff you like reading. I'll match you up with someone with similar tastes. I'll post you both a book I think you'll like (+ choc & tea)! Read, chat & eat choc! Just £15 DETAILS HERE! biggreenbookshop.com/index.php

Hammer horror fans—here’s Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing in their last photo together.