Our #shortstoryofthemonth for July is by the brilliant @tomvowler.bsky.social. Don’t miss ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’: thelonelycrowd.org/2026/07/12/s...

Detained Gaza doctor almost unrecognisable after injuries in Israeli jail, lawyer says

My first ever substack post: open.substack.com/pub/tomvowle...

Incredible to think that AI can now write as badly as some of our worst human authors. What a time to be alive.

Still a few places left on this fantastic #Arvon residential week, The Power of Place, with myself and @jadeafitton.bsky.social www.arvon.org/writing-cour...

Stoked that my short story set in the Cevennes, 'Épisodes', was highly commended in this year's Bridport Prize, reaching the top 13 from 5,000 entries. Looking forward to devouring the other winners in the anthology. #shortstories #bridportprize

Palestinians called on the world to #DisruptComplicity in Israel’s apartheid and genocide between 18-21 September. The world answered. Keep up the momentum: we call for escalating disruptive BDS actions against complicit states, corporations and institutions.

A curated list of some of the most scintillating short stories I've read. You're welcome.

Watched this Louis Theroux documentary the other night; brilliant exposé of colonial settler “state” of Israel & its vicious campaign to steal the land of Palestine. Highly recommended.

Submissions are open until midnight on 30 June:

"No arms shipments should be allowed to Israel. Full stop." Speaking before the UN, Saleh Hijazi, from the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), applauded global civil society efforts for a military embargo on Israel — and pressured states to meet their legal obligations by imposing one.

We did this. Proud of everyone who signed www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

People's Strike.

WHO’s emergencies director, Mike Ryan, sounds the alarm on Israel’s ongoing genocide operation in Gaza. Netanyahu has turned the strip into an open air concentration camp and is deliberately starving civilians.

This feckin' book 💛

In a movement that swept the world, communities mobilised and protested against apartheid, including people in Britain. We’re seeing the same resistance rise across cities in the UK today. Apartheid is, was and will always be a crime against humanity.

Let's hold the enablers of Israel's genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, apartheid and illegal occupation accountable - in the courts and through popular mobilization. #MilitaryEmbargo Now!

We’re delighted to announce that award-winning novelist Kamila Shamsie will deliver the 2025 #PENLecture in partnership with @newwritingnorth.bsky.social & @nclanews.bsky.social. Join us at 6pm on 19 June, at Culture Lab, Newcastle University. Book now ⤵️ www.englishpen.org/posts/events...

If you do just one thing to push back against Amazon, make it buying your books elsewhere.

“I did not yet know the difference between English and Arabic, or how some words might become—borders, weapons, traps.” Sarah Aziza on what it means to be a Palestinian writer today.

It's back! 🎤 📣🎤 Bookings now open for our next online salon hosted by @kiklodge.bsky.social 🎙 Excellent readings ❓️ Highly serious quiz 🤝 Friendly community Get in touch quickly if you want to read. Spots v limited. Theme = Road Signs. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/european-w...

We have removed Tenderfoot Tactics from sale on @xbox.com in solidarity with @bdsmovement.bsky.social . We call on others in our community to do whatever they can to fight this historic injustice. Free Palestine 🍉

‘On the 354th day of this genocide, we are still nowhere near an “after” that allows for material speculation’ Gaza: Indigenous Urbanism Amid Elimination Nour Joudah Native American and Indigenous Studies, Volume 12, Issue 1, Spring 2025 DOI: doi.org/10.1353/nai....

‘The Gaza Strip…is a periphery filled with a people refusing the margins, and defying the colonial delusion that they can be rendered peripheral, disposable collateral.’ Nour Joudah www.academia.edu/128883092/Gaza_Indigenous_Urbanism_Amid_Elimination

If you ever ask yourself can poetry help people, or help the world, here is your chance to make some difference by buying a book of poems written in Gaza during genocide. All profits go directly to the poet and her family. Order from @outspokenpress.bsky.social

Only ONE place left for this online Prose poetry workshop with fantastic tutor @julieirigaray.bsky.social After that, we'll hold a waitlist and maybe re-run if demand so do sign up to write and learn with writers from across Europe. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-introdu...

Exciting collaboration between two of our favourite bookstores @desperatelit.bsky.social and @bricklanebookshop.bsky.social www.thebookseller.com/rights/cheer...

Our bursary places sold out very quickly, so we've added some more for Sat/Sun only. Take a look! We would love to meet you.

Here’s my new flash fiction, A Relief Map of the World’ published by: @fictivedream.bsky.social fictivedream.com/2025/04/18/a...

The recent surge in boycott and divestment campaigns targeting US companies is a chance to connect struggles. Join us and stand against colonialism, racist supremacy and the denial of rights in all its forms, whether in Palestine or beyond.

London people! Just 1 place left now for our event on 24th jointly hosted with Insurgent Press at @allgoodbookshop.co.uk Hurry! Words! Beer! Books! We can't wait to meet you. www.insurgentpress.co.uk/shop/p/salon...

Seamus Heaney

Oo...was in this one.

List five famous people you've met, but ONE is a lie: 1. Steve Davis 2. Dave Gilmore 3. Damien Rice 4. Queen Victoria 5. George Mombiot

Israel bombed Gaza’s Baptist Hospital again. Many of its main buildings and facilities were destroyed. Patients died as they tried to evacuate the compound. Thousands will now be denied medical care because of this barbaric attack. I honestly don’t know what else to say.

✨Brussels Event Details✨ 📅 12-14 September If you're on the fence about joining our Annual Salon in Brussels, or are one of the 60+ people who’ve already signed up, our latest Substack is full of details for what to expect: ✨Guest speakers ✨Planned panels ✨Dining ✨Tours ✨Writing & workshops

Visiting Totnes? You'll find the best coffee here. #kommune

Palestinians call for the boycott of #Berlinale 2025 The Berlin International Film Festival is complicit in the German government’s partnership in Israel’s genocide in Gaza and fails to protect filmmakers standing in solidarity with Palestinians.

Please share in your networks. Goldsmiths, UoL are offering 5 scholarships in Undergrad & MA courses for Palestinian students. The scholarships include: tuition fee waiver, £19,550 allowance, return trip to & from the UK. Eligibility details & further info at link👇🏽 www.gold.ac.uk/fees-funding...

This is on this afternoon. Reedbeds, starlings, 19th-century industrial espionage, and a curious kind of love. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Seems timely to read this masterpiece again

best catch-all essay about all this that I've read this year. thank you for writing it @ositanwanevu.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Of course, they’re not actually looking for antisemitism. They’re looking for brown immigrants who are critics of the United States and Israel’s policy and actions towards Palestine and they believe they’ve landed on a palatable reason to purge a lot of brown people from the United States.

European or not, if anyone fancies reading around 400 words for our July open mic sesh, wave frantically my way @saloneurope.bsky.social

I just came across this - it's out 28th April. It features 37 writers from Gaza, sharing their stories of life during the current war. I know it will not be an easy read. But a rare chance for the outside world to hear from Gazans themselves, not talk *about* them. www.penguin.sg/book/letters...

If you want to try your hand at writing fiction, non-fiction or poetry, check out our amazing three-day writing workshops at WCLF this summer. Read more about these and all our professional development opportunities at the link in our bio www.southernstar.ie/news/creativ...

You can still win a free ticket to our Annual Salon in Brussels this September! (among other pretty great things) EWS Supporters get 10% off prize entry✨ Get your stories in!