Join me, Will Fellows, and Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Debby Applegate for the virtual launch of Virginia Faulkner: A Life in Two Acts. January 15, 7-9PM GMT/2-3PM EST Register on Eventbrite and receive a code for a 40% discount on the book.

Grove Book Club event, Ilkley, on Malachi Whitaker's 'And So Did I' is now full on 19 & 20 Jan, 2026. There is a waitlist. With wonderful Grove Bookshop host, Nikki. Special Guest: Malachi Whitaker's Literary Executor, Valerie Waterhouse www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-grove-...

New newsletter about sculptor Barbara Hepworth, born today in 1903. In 1943, she outlined to art historian Herbert Read why she was overlooked for Touring Exhibitions: “1) Being a woman. Being abstract. Being young. Being a wife and mother, etc..” momentsofrecognition.substack.com/p/on-artisti...

The area of Bradford known as little Germany comprises commercial buildings from around the 1850s onwards. They were built in the main by merchants from mainland Europe, especially Germany who constructed large warehouses and offices. The newcomers tended not to manufacture the

Gems in The Book of Bradford include Malachi Whitaker's Smoke of the Tide on a man returning to his Bradford roots. His wife "could not see the astonishing beauty of the industrial north..The blue-grey landscapes with their design of mill chimneys..the rolling hills, the mingling of smoke & cloud"

"Let 2026 be Bradford's biggest and boldest year yet" by Si Cunningham Will City Library move to Britannia House this year? Will Bradford Archives find the perfect new home? Could former Central Library really be turned into a fancy boutique hotel? www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/2573155...

Illustrator and artist Gerald Spencer Pryse (1882 - 1956) studied in London and Paris, and won a prize at the Venice International Exhibition in 1907. A staunch socialist and an active member of the Fabian Society, his work was often politically charged 1/3

A New Year’s greeting from the collection! Wishing you all a thoughtful and hopeful start to the year ahead. 🖼 Gift Cards for the New Year by W.Place Dickes, 1874 #BritishLibrary #Library #Collection #HappyNewYear

“This year has made people look and think about living here differently. There’s a whole generation of young people coming up who won’t believe what I did about Bradford.”

Benighted by J.B. Priestley is my last read of 2025. Priestley uses the Gothic Horror genre to explore the insecurities of life in Britain following the First World War. Look out for an event featuring this book and selected Malachi stories @leedsartgallery.bsky.social in Jan 2026 (Valerie)

The Doubler Stones are a pair of mushroom-shaped natural rock formations located on Addingham High Moor. The stones are protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument due to the presence of late Neolithic and Bronze Age (c. 2800–500 BC) cup-and-ring carvings.

Bradford considers the legacy of its city of culture year. Can the energy that was generated during 2025 be sustained? Will the talent who built the programme stay?..Will the city experience an economic boost?..What will its legacy look like? www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Blitzing short books to complete this year's Good Reads target. How to spot a Fascist, three essays by Umberto Eco, is prescient and wise. (Valerie)

Its white flowers are, or should be, already on our tables. #gardening

In 1914/15 Malachi Whitaker wrote 'a set of windy martial verses' [now lost] & 'sold them to an Xmas card firm' for 7s 6d. 'Printed for some reason in mauve ink, these verses had the look of weak cocoa.' At the time Yorkshire was a hub of the Xmas card industry. Pic: Card by Bamforth, Holmfirth.

Richard Arkwright, born on this day 1732 in Preston, invented the water frame for cotton spinning and played a huge part in creating and spreading the factory system. Gave Manchester its first cotton spinning mill in 1781, at Miller Street near Shudehill.

'A mysterious organisation has been brought into existence which baffles every ordinary effort to resist it.' The Leeds Mercury 21 December 1811. The Luddite movement began in Nottinghamshire resulting in a region-wide rebellion that lasted until 1816.

Gems in The Book of Bradford include Malachi Whitaker's Smoke of the Tide on a man returning to his Bradford roots. His wife "could not see the astonishing beauty of the industrial north..The blue-grey landscapes with their design of mill chimneys..the rolling hills, the mingling of smoke & cloud"

“Time spent with a cat is never wasted.” ~ Colette 'Siesta' Orazio Orazi, Italy, 1912 #Caturday #Booksky

The Book of Bradford, created for Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture with Comma Press, invites readers into the city through a collection of short stories edited by Saima Mir. Writers such as Malachai Whittaker, Ross Raisin, Sairish Hussain, M.Y. Alam, Abda Khan and Nick Ahad

Can't wait to see a copy of "Stories for Lovers" with pieces by two northern writers: Malachi Whitaker, b. Bradford, Yorks & Richmal Compton, b. Bury, Lancs. Also on the roster: Virginia Woolf, EM Delafield, Dorothy Parker. Sounds like the perfect Valentine treat! ❤️ ❤️ @blpublishing.bsky.social

Jack Chadwick discusses trade unionist and working class author Jack Hilton’s novel Caliban Shrieks, the support he received from George Orwell and more on the latest @workingclasshistory.com #podcast at www.patreon.com/posts/wcl-13... #podcast#1u #UnionStrong #LaborRadioPod

Who went bra shopping with John Berger? Whose childhood routine involved visits from the snake charmer? Who disliked the “big, unfriendly giant” Roald Dahl? Was it the same person Dahl told to try children’s fiction because “the little bastards’d swallow it?” I read some memoirs by Booker winners:

Best British Short Stories 2025 is here – the fifteenth volume of our landmark annual anthology. Edited by Nicholas Royle, it gathers the most exciting short fiction of 2024 from major names and brilliant new voices. A perfect festive gift for the reader in your life. #BBSS2025 #ShortFiction

Exciting that Malachi Whitaker's short story "Honeymoon" features in "Stories for Lovers", an anthology in the British Library Women Writers series EM Delafield, Richmal Compton, Dorothy Parker & Virginia Woolf also make the cut Malachi is in excellent company Out 13 Jan @blpublishing.bsky.social

Thrilled to say that Malachi Whitaker's short story "Honeymoon" is included in this superb anthology from the British Library Women Writers series. "Stories for Lovers" also features short fictions by EM Delafield, Dorothy Parker & Virginia Woolf. Thanks @blpublishing.bsky.social Out 13 Jan 2026

Thrilled to say that Malachi Whitaker's short story "Honeymoon" is included in this superb anthology from the British Library Women Writers series. "Stories for Lovers" also features short fictions by EM Delafield, Dorothy Parker & Virginia Woolf. Thanks @blpublishing.bsky.social Out 13 Jan 2026

Mill in Winter, painting by Peter Brook, 1927-2009 (Kirklees Museums).

Great that Sylvia Townsend Warner will be a visible presence in Dorchester. I wrote about her early life here: akennedysmith.substack.com/p/sylvia-tow...

Writers often say endings are the hardest part of a book. Our deep dive explores Why Readers Love Resolved Endings and how to craft conclusions that resonate. Read the full breakdown: writestats.com/why-readers-... #BookSky

The NBCC biography longlist!

"He believed that C20th British cultural life was, to a certain extent, a conspiracy in which ordinary people found themselves repeatedly hoodwinked by gate-keeping taste-brokers with a fatal attachment to modernism." RIP Professor John Carey

A Christmas card from Elizabeth Bowen to writer Elizabeth Taylor, sold with a copy of Bowen's Court at Jonkers Auctioneers.

"He believed that C20th British cultural life was, to a certain extent, a conspiracy in which ordinary people found themselves repeatedly hoodwinked by gate-keeping taste-brokers with a fatal attachment to modernism." RIP Professor John Carey

SCOOP! Emily Bronte was the ghostwriter of It Can't Happen Here (says the website of amazon.it!) About a US populist, Fascist-adjacent, immigrant-hating, congress-overriding president turned dictator, the 1935 novel is usually said to be by Nobel-winner Sinclair Lewis. But Emily Bronte! Who knew?

Does AI pose an existential threat to Biography? Just one of the questions in this wide-ranging Podcast discussion on writing lives with Hans Renders, David Veltman, Daniel Meister and Gabriella Kelly-Davies. Do give it a whirl! ❤️

A British soldier holding up a can of Christmas pudding at snow-covered Neulette, France 17 December 1917. © IWM (Q 6401) Another soldier recalled: "I had four Christmases there and the only thing I can remember about the Christmases #Christmas #ChristmasPudding #WWI

RIP John Carey. This book changed my life, and I wouldn’t say that if it wasn’t true. 🙏

CALLING BOOK REVIEWERS Boiler House Press are looking for reviewers of their Recovered Books series -- including Malachi Whitaker's super-relevant 1939 memoir, "And So Did I". Interested? Message @bhousepress.bsky.social

Happy Birthday Sylvia Townsend Warner, born 6 December 1893. Here she is, reciting her poem Gloriana Dying, recorded in Frome Vauchurch in February 1978 by Fraser Steel and Michael Schmidt, two months before her death: poetryarchive.org/explore/?key...

Brontë fans and others might enjoy this free online event organised by the wonderful Toronto Public Library Book Club, a midwinter gothic treat in honour of the masterpiece Jane Eyre. Friday 19 December - book now: www.eventbrite.ca/e/classics-o...

On #HumanRightsDay, PEN International launches its first global #LiteraryAuction — featuring rare contributions from leading writers, with all proceeds supporting freedom of expression worldwide. Explore the auction: www.pen-international.org/news/literar...

Link below for our November Reading Group. *The Demon Lover* is our discussion choice. 7pm GMT, 26th November 2025. www.tickettailor.com/events/eliza...

Vol 7 of the Elizabeth Bowen Review is now available to read online www.bowensociety.com/wp-content/u...

CALLING BOOK REVIEWERS Boiler House Press are looking for reviewers of their Recovered Books series -- including Malachi Whitaker's super-relevant 1939 memoir, "And So Did I". Interested? Message @bhousepress.bsky.social

From the archive for Rumer Godden, #BornOnThisDay in 1907, my thoughts on BLACK NARCISSUS. An evocative story of nuns, misguided actions and repressed desires. A truly fabulous novel, adapted for the screen by Powell and Pressburger! #BookSky 💙📚 #BOTD jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2021/03/23/b...

Final Countdown ... The winner of the Turner Prize, exhibiting at Cartwright Hall, Bradford, is to be announced tonight! West Yorkshire (& the world) awaits! www.france24.com/en/live-news... @bradford2025.co.uk @bradfordmuseums.bsky.social

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!

"Don't Let's Ask for the Moon", the exhibition of artworks by Atkinson Grimshaw, poised on the cusp of Modernity, is so bloomin' good ... museumsandgalleries.leeds.gov.uk/don-t-let-s-... @leedsartgallery.bsky.social

Join Bradford 2025 for a late‑night viewing of the Turner Prize exhibition at Cartwright Hall on Thursday, 11th December. Explore the featured works then try your hand at clay karaoke or sample tasty canapés as you unleash your inner art critic. www.visitbradford.com/whats-on/tur... #VisitBradford