Gerhard Richter, 'Eric'

CALL FOR PITCHES @dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I are at work on a new version of Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century aimed at a more general audience. We’re looking for new contributions: your model close readings of texts, canonical and not, from literary studies and not. Details below!

some exciting news!

as a vanderer fun Manchester shtot, I enjoyed this very much

Check out The Auflauf, a new substack of Berlin books. Our first course: @mathildegm.bsky.social on Reimann, @brynstole.bsky.social on Clark, & me on Maci. @ajbwells.bsky.social is in the kitchen too helping cook and dish up lit crit, goss & conversations: theauflauf.substack.com

Student asked what laconic meant and I said it was the opposite of sweaty

Pals subscribe to the Auflauf!!

wtf is a treatler?

"We want to stop them bleeding people dry." The Green Party want to see stricter regulations on gambling to reduce harm. Nigel Farage thinks gambling shops are great places for lonely people to hang out... What do you think?

Remember how MySpace had a dropdown for you to select body size and one of them was “More to love!”

sign up here: theauflauf.substack.com

£500 given out to a working class writer every month. Details in link. Please share :)

I thought Small Mercies was the name of the cafe

nb poets

Extreme long shot but do any of my mutuals know of a “pickup soccer” game in LA?

If the Greens win Gorton and Denton, it'd change politics forever. www.owenjones.news/p/a-green-vi...

Looking forward to the electorate discovering more widely that Lil' Matt Goodwin is an obnoxious, self-interested, deeply unlikeable prick.

I just became aware of this image of Nathan Fielder meeting Trent Reznor

I am a Gorton and Denton absentee voter and the Goodwin announcement has persuaded me to go home and campaign for the Greens

kay @profafinlayson.bsky.social and I have recorded a LESS THAN ONE HOUR long emergency podcast on what the blocking of Andy Burnham's route back to parliament means. culturepowerpolitics.org/2026/01/26/w... Hope it's useful!

can anyone ID this hawk i spotted in Ottawa earlier today?

Hello, I have a new book out in the spring with Picador and I would love it if you could help me spread the word. IF WE TOLERATE THIS draws on years of work, to help readers understand why British politics is hurtling rightwards and what to do about it. Pre-orders: uk.bookshop.org/p/books/if-w...

Lol

The regular Green candidate in Gorton used to be 'Dick Venes' btw, not sure if this has been taken into account in any polling?

I'd like to make clear that I categorically reject the translation of lüften as "house burping"

The real key to winning Best Picture is making a movie that makes film industry people feel like they are Good People and that making films is Important Work.

the future is going to be very gender

Writing instructor: write what you know *sees me writing this in my notebook* no not you. You should probably write genre fiction

pals please repost and share with your friends and students if relevant

WE WANT YOUR PROSE—submit now to read at our Feb 21 Lettrétage event about Christa Wolf (and her post-Wall writing e.g. One Day A Year). Send us some short prose in any language about the day, the daily, the recurring date, everyday politics. We will print a zine! sites.google.com/view/mayroec...

Can you cycle around Los Angeles?

I'm sorry but at one point in Frankenstein Jacob Elordi said "we can be monsters together" and that should have been an end to any possible Oscar nominations for him or that film

Interested nonfiction writers! Do you have a book project you'd like to get off the ground but aren't sure where to start? I'll be offering one-on-one consultations from February! DM me here or contact me through my website to discuss if it could be right for you

Experience: I dined across the divide at the pub that changed me

Can you cycle around Los Angeles?

creativecritical.net is open for submissions! Please send your > essays, poems, stories, translations > reflections on the relationship between creative and critical practice > course materials or syllabi that incorporate creative work into critical teaching to [email protected]

German pals what did you have to read in school? I feel like I’ve heard people talk about having to read Hesse?

You’ll find me in the qoob

You know times are changing when the former head of the Bank of England is talking about American hegemony at Davos

one of them must be lying

Reading your diary

Is China exceptional or just another case of industrial development? A striking recent data point implies the answer might be: both. I argue that solo households are both a sign of great success and that China can't escape global 'dual economy' dynamics. jacobin.com/2026/01/chin...

Täter Tots

note that Fergie cleverly managed to avoid endorsing the book in his blurb

this, from West Ham's Freddie Potts, is the single worst "five famous people you'd invite to dinner" I've ever seen

lfg

this is what I want from a google hotel review

this is what I want from a google hotel review

petition for berlin pals to stop ‘news’ updates by axel springer, whom i assume u also despise, from being on BVG screens