Wrote about rituals involved in arranging a wedding in ancient Mesopotamia. Find out more in BBC History Magazine December issue! www.historyextra.com/magazine/nex...

Ancient HMRC/IRS sends a letter saying pay your taxes immediately or there will be consequences www.popularmechanics.com/science/arch...

If you want to read more about ancient academics check out my book ‘The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of History’ www.penguin.co.uk/books/443027...

Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching

VAMPIRES AREN’T REAL, RIGHT? …RIGHT? To celebrate Halloween, we’re thrilled to share a special interview with historian John Blair about his riveting new book, Killing the Dead: Vampire Epidemics from Mesopotamia to the New World. open.substack.com/pub/histfest...

I'm heading to the Wells Festival of Literature today - excited to talk about The Library of Ancient Wisdom again! Tickets are available here: wellsfestivalofliterature.org.uk/events/2025-...

I've just found out which Babylonian god people prayed to to get up early in the morning - Ninurta! 'To do business at the quay where traffic rushes swiftly by, You, O unrivalled king of the world, rouse at daybreak him who else would not rise.' From www.ebl.lmu.de/corpus/L/3/1...

Exciting event alert: P21 Gallery and The Enheduanna Society are hosting a Performance Evening on 25th October in London. Badia Obaid, June Peters and Tara Jaff will perform Mesopotamian poetry and a modern retelling of the story of priestess and poet Enheduanna.

My poem 'Kabuki Costume' is featured on Poetry Worth Hearing - thank you, Kathleen McPhilemy! You can read it online here: poetryworthhearing.biz/post/poetry-... You can listen to the whole episode here:

A review of Library of Ancient Wisdom and Between Two Rivers by Moudhy Al-Rashid in The Times Literary Supplement - thank you @lsmwilson.bsky.social for kind words!

Thrilled to be taking part in the Overboard! @classicsforall.bsky.social reverse balloon debate discussing which arch villain from the ancient world deserves to be chucked out rather than saved 25th September, London or online - tickets: classicsforall.org.uk/news-and-eve...

The label doth protest too much, methinks

Had a great time at Ancients history podcast! Thank you for inviting me, Tristan Hughes - it is always fun to talk about Ashurbanipal, his dynasty, library and more! You can give it a listen here: shows.acast.com/the-ancients...

Another amazing episode of Curator's Corner @BritishMuseum! Very informative and beautifully shot - Ashurbanipla's lion hunt scenes are presented in such incredible detail! www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

In the bookshop this morning: PARENTS: “Okay, we’re leaving now.” CHILD: *pulls another book from the shelf and sits down * CHILD: “Then I guess this is goodbye.”

Imagine Excel but 5000 years ago… Early tablets like this one were used for administrative purposes to record the storage and distribution of goods, animals and people. This tablet comes from Jemdet Nasr, the remains of an ancient site in southern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). 📝 AN1926.583

A new Sumerian myth discovered: archaeology.org/news/2025/07...

Had a great time at BBC 6 Radio Music @cerysmatthews.bsky.social thank you for having me! You can listen to our conversation here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Excerpts from my new book, Library of Ancient Wisdom, will be read during @cerysmatthews.bsky.social upcoming Sunday show at BBC Radio 6! Join in from 10:00 am if you can: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...

I'm pleased to announce the launch of my new website! If you'd like to see what events I have lined up for the next few months or easily access my past projects and media appearances, please visit: www.selenawisnom.com

Excited to be joining Cerys Matthews at BBC 6 Radio this Sunday, 27th July, at noon. I'll talk about the Library of Ancient Wisdom and the songs that remind me of great times at the British Museum's tablet room! Join in if you can! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

At the Idler festival last week, I did a live liver divination - needless to say, I had a great time! Thank you, @idlerat.bsky.social for inviting me, and thank you to the fantastic audience for your insightful questions.

Super impressed with the illustrations for the @chalkefestival.bsky.social talks! Thank you for having me and for the great conversation!

Heading off to the amazing @chalkefestival.bsky.social! Talks, living history, debate, performance – all set in the beautiful Wiltshire countryside. This Thursday, I will be discussing all things Mesopotamia with Becky Wragg Sykes - so excited! www.chalkefestival.com/tickets/

I’ll be performing at this year’s Idler Festival which is at the beautiful Fenton House, Hampstead 11-13 July. You’ll be able to see me join Stewart Lee, Emma Thompson, Michael Palin, and more. Tickets can be found here: idler.co.uk/festival - Don’t miss out! #IdlerFestival2025 #idlerfestival

Just been to this brilliant exhibition for the third time - Satta Hashem’s ‘A World of Colour and Emotion’ at Leicester Museum and Art gallery. And got a tour from the artist himself! It closes at the end of June - do go if you can!

Thank you, Idler, for featuring Library of Ancient Wisdom as your Book of the Week! www.idler.co.uk/article/book...

Introducing Mesopotamia's most famous demon! www.historyextra.com/period/ancie...

Great interview with @daisydunn.bsky.social about writing about women in antiquity

Took a break from the book tour to speak about liver divination at Melammu Symposium 25 in Sofia! My talk was on what I have learned from my practical experiments forecasting elections. What a beautiful university!

Great news from Nineveh! Heidelberg University's team unearthed a stone relief depicting Ashurbanipal and major Assyrian deities. www.sci.news/archaeology/...

I am so excited to join Tom Hodgkinson at the @idler on June 5th to talk about all things Mesopotamia! www.idler.co.uk/product/a-dr...

Had a great time with History Extra podcast talking about witchcraft and wizardry in the library of Ashurbanipal, now out here! www.historyextra.com/podcast/

My cartoon for this week’s @theguardian.com Books

Had a great time visiting the Library of Ashurbanipal Chicago branch! An important collection relating to ancient and modern Assyrians. Thanks to Assyrian Cultural Foundation for having me!

Thank you to the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures at UChicago and everyone who attended my talk! Copies of my book were sold out, but I managed to sneak some out and present them to Sargon and Sennacherib - reviews TBC!

Had so much fun @histfest.bsky.social! Thank you, @moudhy.bsky.social and Shaparak Khorsandi, for a great discussion about Mesopotamia, and thank you to the audience for fantastic questions!

Thank you for having me on the How to Academy Podcast Vassili Christodoulou! You can listen to the episode here: howtoacademy.com/podcasts/ass...

So excited to speak at the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures about my new book, Library of Ancient Wisdom. If you are in Chicago on 7th May, please join me! ISAC members can also join online. Find out more here: eventbrite.com/e/isac-lectu...

Delighted to receive this kind review from @richove.bsky.social in the FT today!

Very excited to be joining @moudhy.bsky.social and Shaparak Khorsandi on 26th April at the British Library to discuss all things Mesopotamia! We will talk about my new book, Library of Ancient Wisdom, and Moudhy’s Between Two Rivers. Can't wait!

Seven centuries before Palm Sunday, Mesopotamian omens predict 'an important person will arrive on a donkey'

The best thing about having been to Oxford is getting a 15% discount at Blackwells for the rest of your life. God knows I need it

I keep looking at the seagulls in Oxford and thinking "Why are you here, this is further from the sea than almost anywhere in Britain?!" Now we know, I guess.

Excited to talk about #LOAW, Ashurbanipal, his library and more at Hexham Book Festival! It runs from 2nd-11th May, and my talk is on the 4th at 11:00 am - please join me if you are free :) Tickets are available here: www.hexhambookfestival.co.uk/event/selena...

1. 🧵The story of Noah’s Ark comes from ancient Mesopotamia. But why is its history so overlooked? Author @lswisnom.bsky.social joins @lsmwilson.bsky.social on The Lede podcast to discuss why its been so disregarded. newlinesmag.com/podcast/a-lo...

Looking forward to joining this amazing lineup at the British Library History Festival. I’ll be talking to @moudhy.bsky.social about all things Mesopotamia on 26th April. Get tickets here!

Unlike books and podcasts, lectures hold their audience captive – in person, at least. 🔓 George Garnett’s latest Making History is free for 7 days www.historytoday.com/archive/maki...

#LOAW in @newscientist.com Thank you for interviewing me, Alison George! Also, I wrote a piece for @historytoday.com on #Ashurbanipal - look at this fantastic front cover! www.newscientist.com/article/mg26... www.historytoday.com/archive/feat...

Thank you to everyone who came to my talk at Waterstones Gower Street! It makes me so happy to talk about #LOAW and chat about my favourite aspects of Mesopotamian culture!