Sharing again, just in case!

Anyone any recommendations for food/drink/child-friendly activities in Hastings?

Just received a message from a reader telling me that they are enjoying my book: the loveliest little Christmas gift for a writer! We should all be doing this for each other I reckon

Just received a message from a reader telling me that they are enjoying my book: the loveliest little Christmas gift for a writer! We should all be doing this for each other I reckon

An interview with @randongenerator.bsky.social and @sandropology.bsky.social, the guest editors of our latest issue 'Novel Media / Media Novel' 👩🏽‍💻🧑🏽‍💻👨🏽‍💻 c21.openlibhums.org/news/873/

I challenge you to think of one thing you would less like to do

When will this crisis get any attention whatsoever!? A THOUSAND ACADEMIC STAFF AT ONE INSTITUTION SERVED REDUNDANCY RISK NOTICES! And that's not counting what's surely being visited on professional services staff too. This is an economic catastrophe, to say nothing of the intellectual catastrophe!

In collaboration with UK Small Press Futures – a collective of UK independent publishers – Wasafiri is hosting an afternoon of panels dedicated to the future of independent presses. When: Wed, 21 January, 2-6pm GMT Where: BLOC Cinema, Queen Mary University of London Tickets: £15 buff.ly/YJJorHv

I guess it's fitting that it's a reimagined, worse version of someone else's artwork

Ongoing decimation of British universities part 252: Apx. 1000 academic staff at University of Essex just received formal ‘risk of redundancy’ letters via email. Please share @ucuessex.bsky.social @ucu.org.uk

The perfect gift for your bookish friends this Christmas… ‘The Writer’s Room is a delightful book, brimming with warmth and insight.’ Review31 Order from @waterstones.bsky.social here: bit.ly/48NdbN0 @kdclewin.bsky.social #Christmas #literary #creative #ChristmasGifts #Xmas #BooksForChristmas

‘“People need to pay their bills,” one of the pickets told me. Some are forced to work several jobs. Many talked of the effect of the 2023 cyberattack on their workload.’ Anna Aslanyan on the strike at the British Library, from the blog. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...

My impression is that the most rapid and really brutal university cuts are now revving up. Each of the threefold tumblers of White Paper, Budget and strike ballot failure have turned and made the situation much worse. In some places the cynicism and speed is frightening. (1/2)

a new monograph by one of our fabulous advisory board ☺️

Very happy to receive my copy of The Edinburgh Companion to the Millennial Novel edited by Loic Bourdeau and @cilloyd.bsky.social. I'm in there talking about (what else) writers and writing work. Great to see the contribution from my @c21literature.bsky.social colleague @heyitsdenisew.bsky.social

Badenoch says the Conservatives would want fewer “low value degrees” and many more apprenticeships. As ever with such announcements I will perhaps take it more seriously when the kids of government ministers and MPs are routinely doing apprenticeships and not degrees.

Reading Rooms at the British Library are closed *all week* because so many of its workers refuse to work for pitiful wages in a contemptuously authoritarian and obliviously managed environment. We need leaders who get it and are big enough to sort it out! It’s a mess and a disgrace. Lift it up!!

Solidarity, once more, with the staff at the British Library. The people who keep it going and who make it what it is should not be on poverty wages and living in fear of abuse from angry users. Something needs to change!

Solidarity, once more, with the staff at the British Library. The people who keep it going and who make it what it is should not be on poverty wages and living in fear of abuse from angry users. Something needs to change!

In yet more devastating news, the VC has confirmed her plans to cut 80% of academic staff from Essex Pathways, our foundation year department. This would effectively close down all our existing foundation year programmes through the back door. But it's not a done deal yet. Please share urgently.

⏱️FOUR MORE WEEKS to submit your abstract to @darlingorlaith.bsky.social and Fionnula Simpson for their upcoming 8-9 June 'Bad Feelings: Sadness and Gender in Contemporary Culture' conference, a research project funded by the UCD Humanities Institute's Seed Funding Scheme.

Up now on @literaryhub.bsky.social; an in-depth interview with small press publishers on what they do and how they do it, how they differ from commercial publishing in content & form, on funding, their impact on literary communities, & some excellent book recommends🎄 lithub.com/life-giving-...

This is disastrous. And the news are mostly hidden- not at all prioritised by the BBC as breaking news across their channels/platforms. I had to dig deep to find this link. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I’m so sorry to bring your day to a screeching halt but think about if this was your own child. Your little first grader. Just think about it.

Job titles of writer jobs currently advertised on LinkedIn: Conversion Copywriter Trainee; Junior Technical Writer; Freelance AI Insights Writer; Generative AI Prompt Writer; Content Evaluator; Human in the Loop intern; Human Perspective Writer

Hoping to start a new book project on plagiarism and all that that entails - would love to hear from people about interesting cases?! So far, I am really so obsessed by the absolutely fascinating case of Nella Larsen and her supposed plagiarism of a Sheila Kaye-Smith story

But Labour MPs can’t put on hi-vis and a hard hat to visit for a photo opp, so they don’t count this as work and they don’t count these as jobs with saving

Job titles of writer jobs currently advertised on LinkedIn: Conversion Copywriter Trainee; Junior Technical Writer; Freelance AI Insights Writer; Generative AI Prompt Writer; Content Evaluator; Human in the Loop intern; Human Perspective Writer

It's official: 400 redundancies and a campus closure. At-risk staff will get a letter next week. Absolutely no serious consideration of any of the union's counterproposals. Please share widely.

Breaking: Second wave of strikes at British Library announced Union says lack of stable leadership after chief executive’s departure has “undoubtedly undermined staff confidence” www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-c...

Hoping to start a new book project on plagiarism and all that that entails - would love to hear from people about interesting cases?! So far, I am really so obsessed by the absolutely fascinating case of Nella Larsen and her supposed plagiarism of a Sheila Kaye-Smith story

Continually alarmed that there are academics out there who somehow don't seem to grasp the current situation in HE, or take an interest in the levels of restructuring taking place. I keep seeing academics doing the surprised pikachu face about the use of subsidiary companies

They were 8 and 11 years old

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, because my book is out now, fresh off the press! Happy book birthday to “Literary Autobiography: Contemporary Novelists and their Self-Representations” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025) 📕🎉! doi.org/10.1007/978-... @hss.springernature.com

starting Dec 1st! ie tomorrow! for structure to eke out pages at a bonkers time of year (that is also a precious writing-est time): you can do 250 words a day! books get written that way! if more, amazing! if not when grading or festive-ing, that's ok! check in daily at #acadecawriteathon

Continually alarmed that there are academics out there who somehow don't seem to grasp the current situation in HE, or take an interest in the levels of restructuring taking place. I keep seeing academics doing the surprised pikachu face about the use of subsidiary companies

Staff from UCU at Coventry University have passed a vote of no confidence in their Vice Chancellor, who has presided over a regime of gross mismanagement, and is now firing staff and rehiring them through subsidiary companies. Sign this petition to support UCU's call for a change in leadership.

She's playing a blinder

She's playing a blinder

“A poignant appraisal of readers’ quest to find intimacy with the authors they love.” @kdclewin.bsky.social’s forthcoming The Writer’s Room (Feb. 17, 2026) earned a positive review in @publisherswkly.bsky.social. Read the full review here:

Watching the Education Committee evidence session with Jaqui Smith (I don't know why I do this to myself) and I honestly feel like I'm going to scream

I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture. They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1

Exciting news ~ TL/TH in book form, from Peninsula Press in 2026✨ Too Little/Too Hard (edited by Lucy Mercer and Livia Franchini), a collection of essays from some of the most exciting contemporary writers about literature, work, time, and value (shipping May) peninsulapress.co.uk/products/202...

Almost a year now since I received this absolutely classic burn from the Canadian government.

Nice little review here on @publisherswkly.bsky.social in advance of the US publication

Not endorsing what this guy did in any way because it sounds terrible, but if you make people teach modules of material they don't know about (or are not capable of teaching, but that's another story ehem) they will be doing this - this won't be the only place

Sharing this again - deadline tomorrow! We'd love to hear from you

Doctoral Researcher, Liam Young, is co-organising the first @bacls.bsky.social graduate conference, held at the Uni of Leeds on 20 May 2026. Participants will be invited to contribute to a special issue of the journal Alluvium. Deadline for abstracts: 4 January 2026. CFP here: bacls.org/news/188/

Currently at the launch of this report and the findings are very interesting: