#OTD 44BC “Well, the Ides of March are come! Happy Ides, everyone!” “Aye, Caesar, the Ides are come, but they’re not yet gone.” #IdesOfMarch #PlaymobilInfestation

'Except for the birds - which sang loud and piercingly, with a loony optimism akin to emergency - the street was solitary and still. A sprinkler whirred on an empty lawn; the street lamps, the lighted porches glowed in long, empty perspectives...' #BookWormSat #SouthernGothic

Mostly, he looked like a big piece of old brown carpet that had been left out in the rain. "You're a mess," I told him. "I bet you don't belong to anybody." He smiled at me. He did that thing again, where he pulled back his lips and showed me his teeth. Kate di Camillo #BookWormSat

Our very own agent, Hattie is doing a 1-2-1 at the Bournemouth Writing Festival on 25th of April 👀. Book now! 📚 This is an opportunity you do not want to miss. 🌟 Book your slot here: BournemouthWritingFestival.co.uk

Following the sad passing recently of the folklorist and author @neilphilipmyth.bsky.social, it became apparent that the review of his excellent book ENGLISH FOLKTALES was missing from the podcast website You can now read it, and link to the interview, at www.thefolklorepodcast.com/english-folk...

#BookologyThursday People with a certain strength or fixity of purpose may have ghosts of a certain strength and fixity of purpose--most haunting ghosts, you know, must be as one idea'd as monomaniacs and as obstinate as mules to come back again and again. H.G. Wells, 1902

It is a NEW BOOK DAY! 'Writing for Young People', by me, is an accessible look at how fiction for children and young adults is crafted. In eight chapters, we take a DEEP DIVE into picturebooks, MG and YA with AUTHOR INTERVIEWS and WRITING EXERCISES #kidlit #ukkidlit uk.bookshop.org/p/books/writ...

I'll be chatting with Phil Errington, expert on John Masefield and author of Opening the Box of Delights, and @pierstorday.bsky.social who adapted the book for the stage. I'll feature the best of your thoughts on the show too, so make sure to give permission when you email your recordings

'He had begun to know the ivy, its depth, its mysterious blue reflections, its iron smell of green and ancient botany, its sound of rain on turning pages, its strength and brittleness, and its flavour of cress and stone.' ~ The Time of Green Magic, Hilary McKay #BookWormSat

‘Ivy held prior place in this lost garden, the long strands crept across the lawns, and soon would encroach upon the house itself.’ ~ Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier. This #BookWormSat celebrates the birthday of landscape architect, Leonard Springer with Gardens in Literature.

Shirley Jackson was right. No live organism can exist sanely for long under conditions of absolute reality.

Volunteers created blankets for elephants during a cold spell in Myanmar, Winga Baw Elephant camp #WomensArt

A #Pembrokeshire boy, Elydir, was favoured by the Tylwyth Teg and they took him to Annwn to play with the king's son. On one of his trips home, his mother begged him to take just one of the balls of gold they played with. But the #fairies retook it and he was banned from Annwn forever. #FolkTaleWeek

We are all ghosts of yesterday, and the phantom of tomorrow awaits us alike in sunshine or in shadow, dimly perceived at times, never entirely lost. ~Daphne du Maurier #PhantomsFriday #Bookchatweekly

30 million dead, The Somme, painting created by Mary Bishop 1976 in the art therapy studio at Netherne hospital where she was compelled to live. Aged 4 when her father was killed in WWI, the reverberations of his death & her mother’s vast grief traumatised & distressed Mary for the rest of her life

Here's our pick of the best writing comps and subs for November. Join the WHQ slubbers club and send your stories into the world. Go go go! writershq.co.uk/5-competitio...

Please share widely and follow us and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

Baron Nathan, the celebrity dance teacher of the 1850s who danced the hornpipe blindfolded, surrounded by eggs. There's something SO malevolent about this image. It's powerfully frightening.

Another lovely #Halloween illustration, this one by Kurt Werth from 'One Dark Night', a children's book by Edna Preston. In the story, various spooky beings gang up but are frightened away by a crafty little mouse. #witch #jackolantern #illustration #KurtWerth #mouse

Important piece from @booktrust.org.uk and @openuni-rfp.bsky.social about the value of book choice for pupils and how to help promote it in the classroom. Do have a read! files.booktrust.org.uk/docs/documen... @teresacremin.bsky.social @richardruddick.bsky.social

"Once upon a time there was a little witch who was only a hundred and twenty-seven years old". The Little Witch, Otfried Preussler - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lit... #bookwormsat

Excellent advice...and something for every occasion! www.joanaiken.com/books/

The Woggle of Witches, Adrienne Adams, 1971.

‘It is autumn in Moominvalley, for how else can spring come back again?’ ~ Finn Family Moomintroll, Tove Jansson. @racheldeering.bsky.social here for the rest of an Autumnal #BookWormSat 🍂

Romanticism gave Gothic fiction its pulse. Behind every phantom is longing. Behind every monster, love twisted by loss. The horror is never just outside. It’s what the heart won’t forget. #31DaysofHaunting #31DaysOfHalloween Art: Munch

One of my favourite Flemish folktales is that of a witch who lived near the sea in a derelict cottage that the locals avoided. They were thrilled when a storm destroyed it. The witch went to the sea and kept herself occupied by conjuring storms and capsizing ships. 🌙See thread for more witchery🌙

Amazing opportunity for unpublished authors.

Next up for my month of Black kids books is another double - both by Clare Weze. She blends real world social issues with elements of magic and science creating unique and wonderful adventures. Up Above The City is her latest book and highlights the hidden plight of refugee communities.

Swimming into the weekend – and all the adventures it will hold... 🐻‍❄ 'Dark Waters', from The Caterpillar Archives by Scottish artist Lucy Campbell #ArtistSpotlight

"Listen! the wind is rising, and the air is wild with leaves, We have had our summer evenings, now for #October eves!" By Humbert Wolfe #October1st #BookChatWeekly #Autumn 🎃🍃🍂 🖼️ 'La Bourrasque' (The Gust of Wind) by Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer, 1896