A Devil’s Alphabet by Annie Hayter has won The Galley Beggar Press short story prize! It's a marvellous story, Details in our newsletter: www.galleybeggar.co.uk/campaigns/vi...

You can write, but can you READ like a writer? Active reading is a secret weapon; it enlarges the toolkit, and turbo charges your own writing. Join me and Sam Jordison at Arvon's loveliest house this May. Bring sticky notes and some work in progress! http://bit.ly/4qY1qdQ

It begins!

LOOK OUT!

'All of these things & thoughts filled her up, pushed their way inside her. They made her feel bigger & bigger, inflating her body with an uncomfortable invisible enormousness.' Thrilled to share The Appointment, published in RIC Journal, a story of appointments, wax. ricjournal.com/2026/03/19/t...

Cause for celebration:

From the gen z side of things I'd say you're right, I don't know anyone who likes booktok anymore. It's associated with poorly written erotica and influencer scandals. I use tiktok pretty regularly but never for book content... And books are my entire life!

I wrote about BookTok - and why publishers need an escape strategy: open.substack.com/pub/samj/p/b...

I wrote about BookTok - and why publishers need an escape strategy: open.substack.com/pub/samj/p/b...

A few more words about our beloved Sirius here - as well as an interview with Álvaro Enrigue, a serious writer.

New episode alert! Lori and Sam talk to the brilliant Joanna Kavenna about her wonderfully inventive novel "Seven". www.buzzsprout.com/1728150/epis...

In case you missed our series of IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS yesterday:

We'll be reading: Katherine Mansfield, The Garden Party and Other Stories Jeanette Winterson, Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit Philip Roth, The Plot Against America Fran Ross, Oreo George Saunders, Lincoln in the Bardo Orhan Pamuk (trans. Erdag Göknar), My Name Is Red

We are proud to announce the shortlist of this year's Galley Beggar Press short story prize: Fire! Fire! Or, Ascension by Kate Ansell A Devil’s Alphabet by Annie Hayter Clean Sheet by Kinneson Lalor

Also in our newsletter, a new novel by Alex Pheby. I said, A NEW NOVEL BY ALEX PHEBY. The Picnic. It is extraordinary. More information soon. Get ready.

I wrote about a very ancient love on my Substack: open.substack.com/pub/samj/p/a...

I wrote about a very ancient love on my Substack: open.substack.com/pub/samj/p/a...

More about my Rebecca West blue plaque obsession, with thanks to @samjordison.bsky.social of @galleybeggars.bsky.social for being my first and much appreciated proactive supporter. Find out how you can help! 💙 open.substack.com/pub/autumnin...

This was great fun to do. My Writer’s Bookshelf, spanning from Sherwood Anderson to Sue Townsend, via Joseph Roth, the Usborne Guide to the Supernatural World, Peanuts, Toni Morrison and many others… Many thanks to @mathewlyons.bsky.social for asking me!

Thank you to everyone who responded to my Rebecca West post. You have all given me heart and courage. I've written about what I'm up to here. Please forward this to anyone who might be interested open.substack.com/pub/autumnin...

Hello Bluesky! I am looking for anyone who cares about/writes about/thinks about Rebecca West. I've been on a 10 year mission to get her a blue plaque in London and am finally allowed to re-apply after it was last turned down. I'd welcome help building a strong application. Thank you 💙🙏

This week, a fantastic interview with the vivacious, fierce, fantastic Álvaro Enrigue. (Also some heartfelt words about Sam's beloved dog Sirius and the aid dogs have given to literature over the years.) www.buzzsprout.com/1728150/epis...

"The bigger issue is that even before I saw the list I knew that no prominent positions would be given to writers, publishers or - heaven forbid - critics. After all, why would their opinions count? It’s not like books are as important as baking."

Come for the broad-based book world critique, stay for the Hamnet takedown.

A terrific rant about the importance of books. It is at times funny, at times poignant, at times introspective. Plus at times political, nostalgic, raging, a bit desperate, and absolutely interesting. Also 100% correct!

oh jesus I am so tired of literature being dumbed down for the masses instead of being lifted up for the people who actually want to read and is interested in literature. gahhhh

I wrote about the decline of the book world on my substack: open.substack.com/pub/samj/p/t...

A sad newsletter this time, in memory of our best boy, and literary superstar, Sirius: www.galleybeggar.co.uk/campaigns/vi...

always in the weft

With apologies again for the IT meltdown, hoping that people will be receiving our newsletter right now, and with links to all stories to follow - we're delighted to announce the 2025/26 GBP Short Story Prize longlist:

The 2025/26 Short Story Prize Longlist - with links:

I've started a Substack for bits and pieces. First post asks the pressing question of our times: What Would You Do Alone In A Cage With Nothing But Cocaine?

On my blog, my thoughts on Kindred by Octavia Butler and the 2nd @galleybeggars.bsky.social Critical Reading Class session on it, chaired by @samjordison.bsky.social annabookbel.net/kindred-by-o...

As someone from the north of Bradford I find this journalist’s co-opting of my pain deeply offensive and isolating: www.theguardian.com/film/2026/fe... When will they have the decency to make it all about me instead? I also find this Yorkshire-centrism so troubling. I’m so tired!

As someone from the north of Bradford I find this journalist’s co-opting of my pain deeply offensive and isolating: www.theguardian.com/film/2026/fe... When will they have the decency to make it all about me instead? I also find this Yorkshire-centrism so troubling. I’m so tired!

On the 'white-washing' of Wuthering Heights - and the imposition of contemporary problems on a book from another time. "... a shame to impose one narrow and divisive way of looking at the world on this complicated, expansive, terrifying and big-hearted work of art" open.substack.com/pub/samj/p/w...

Iain M. Banks (1954–2013) was born #OTD, 16 Feb: a 🎂 🧵 1/13 “Iain Banks… is a novelist who has his own ‘double’, an author for whom the idea of a split writing persona is emphatically not out of place” —A 2010 article on Banks’s genre-busting career 💙📚 www.thebottleimp.org.uk/2010/11/read...

On the 'white-washing' of Wuthering Heights - and the imposition of contemporary problems on a book from another time. "... a shame to impose one narrow and divisive way of looking at the world on this complicated, expansive, terrifying and big-hearted work of art" open.substack.com/pub/samj/p/w...

Seeing @suedehq.bsky.social at UEA last night made everything feel better.

There is a new book by Mark Bowles on the way. It's called How Do People Stay The Same. It is, as you might expect, a thing of beauty and wonder. Details here: www.galleybeggar.co.uk/campaigns/vi...

The Observer Anthony Burgess Prize for Arts Journalism is looking for the best new voices in cultural criticism. Entries close on 28 February 2026, so get scribbling! First prize is £3000 and publication in @theobserveruk.bsky.social Find out how to enter: www.anthonyburgess.org/observeranth...

On my blog today, my review of the benefactors by Wendy Erskine and my first critical reading session with @galleybeggars.bsky.social and @samjordison.bsky.social to discuss it. Https://annabookbel.net/the-benefactors-by-wendy-erskine-galley-beggar-critical-reading-class-1/

Deforestation, fascism, cults, resistance and more in our latest episode, a fascinating conversation with Chilean writer Simón López Trujillo about his novel Pedro The Vast: www.buzzsprout.com/1728150/epis...

Some thoughts on Hamnet: open.substack.com/pub/samj/p/w...

Links, Tips and Suggestions: "Disgustingly lewd" French poetry, Sappho, an absurd (and frightening) attack on Plato, the bloody end of American civilisation and some sustaining literary diversions. open.substack.com/pub/samj/p/l...

Links, Tips and Suggestions: "Disgustingly lewd" French poetry, Sappho, an absurd (and frightening) attack on Plato, the bloody end of American civilisation and some sustaining literary diversions. open.substack.com/pub/samj/p/l...

Our latest episode features a conversation with writer and musician Ausyn Wohlers about her book Hothouse Bloom: interabangbooks.com/across-pond freight.cargo.site/w/422/q/75/i... A very interesting book by a talented writer. Just what we enjoy talking about.