Also, note that Maduro is in a detention centre *in New York* (NYC?) and not, as might have been imagined, in a closely guarded attic maid's room at Mar a Lago. Is this calculated to try and put a thorn in Mamdani's side?

So Trump stamped his feet & shook his tiny fists & hollered long & loud that he wanted the Nobel Peace Prize but they gave it to an opponent of Maduro in Venezuela & then Trump arrests Maduro & says *he'll* be in charge, not her. Seems likely that's at least as important to him as petrodollars etc?

And very delighted to be there! Subscribers can read the full piece, but as with practically all Wittkop's writing, don't say we didn't warn you ...

So sad to hear this yesterday. Laurent was my neighbour across the water, I enjoy the view of the beautiful modernist house he restored every day. RIP

So glad I caught not only the author & translator but also International Booker judge Anton Hur & Prizes director Gaby Wood at @hayfestival.bsky.social on Saturday! Loved Banu Mushtaq's unexpectedly hilarious anecdote of how her clearly not bothersome husband thwarted a fatwa attack at their home 🤣

Did #MetGala guests take "Tailoring Black Style" too literally? The theme celebrates a Congolese (& Congolese Parisian) tradition, "La Sape", and Les Sappeurs are all about COLOUR! Clearly, though, black's the fall-back colour when cultural appropriation looms... www.ouest-france.fr/leditionduso...

Did I just hear Amol Rajan literally tell Gary Lineker "This is the BBC, you can't criticise government policy..."? Yes, I did 😯

Can the letter now be sent by post? (NB @societyofauthors.bsky.social, don't ask for a signature/proof of delivery, they won't sign for it). Note to Meta: it's just a letter, it won't bite, you're not being served court papers or anything... (Or did you think you were?).

The irony, that Meta wouldn’t open its doors to take a 500 word letter of complaint from writers, when they’d already taken millions of words from us. Apparently they’ve got enough now. Thanks.

META could afford to do otherwise but *chose* to steal all our work. They must be made to compensate for the theft, and only use copyrighted work with express written permission going forward.

Meta, directed by Mark Zuckerberg, stole the work of millions of authors - including me - to train its AI. Truly outrageous theft. #MetaBookThieves #MakeItFair #SOADayOfAction

If the UK government agrees to a wholesale undoing of copyright, to excuse Meta's massive theft of books, art, movies etc as 'data', then the creative industries and all of us working in them are finished. All viewers and readers will get in future is unoriginal, derivative slop. #MetaBookThieves

Meta can afford it. They just prefer to steal.

On my way to protest at Meta’s London office. Why? Pirate site LibGen ripped 7.5 million books. Meta used this stolen content to train AI systems to write books #campaigning #makeITfair #DotheWriteThing @alcs.co.uk @writersguildgb.bsky.social @authorsguild.bsky.social @societyofauthors.bsky.social

...but I think the FN/RN can still field a candidate in 2027, if they can find one (Bardella), and today's ruling will probably boost support, so... #France #LePen

You should also watch Seeger singing THIS LAND... at Obama's first inauguration, w Springsteen and a Diverse, Inclusive gospel chorus 🥹

youtube.com/watch?v=wnvC... Saw A COMPLETE UNKNOWN & sobbed as a young Pete Seeger sang this 👇. America isn't the Trump White House & may never be greater than this (old Pete Seeger w Springsteen & a Diverse, Inclusive gospel chorus at Obama's inauguration) 👇. Hoping this can be equalled again soon.

Well Trump & esp. J.D. showed their hands in ways we can all see this afternoon. The clearly calculated good cop/bad cop trolling of Zelenskyy can still backfire... They're never going to sign anything that counters Putin's interests, as we now all know, if we didn't before (which we actually did).

...and two from the terrific @andotherstories.bsky.social ! Hurrah! 👏👏👏 thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-l...

So French leads the field for the 2025 International Booker! ❤️🇫🇷📚 Three titles longlisted, including Vincent Delecroix's painful, timely SMALL BOAT, from @hoperoadpublish.bsky.social, tr. Helen Stevenson. Great to see such a fresh list of largely new names, too :) Congratulations to all 👏👏👏

youtube.com/watch?v=pIQh... This is really quite extraordinary: a notably diverse, inclusive US Army chorus belting out a call to revolution, to an assembly of State governors, in the White House. Palpably electric atmosphere. Watching and waiting...

What a great (quite long, very enjoyable) read! Based on this, I'm *really* looking forward to the International Booker judges' longlist this year ❤️🌏🌎🌍📚 thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-l...

Dear #BookSky can you help us find our lost audience? We left 140,00 people behind on X and we want to reconnect!

Ummm, Robert Harris just breathtakingly swept Isabella Rossellini aside on @bbcradio4.bsky.social ??

Two pieces of lovely news here: the re-publication of a gorgeous livre d'artiste by Nikki de Saint-Phalle, from @gallimard.bsky.social and a blockbuster summer exhibition on the theme of animals in her work, at the marvellous #HôteldeCaumont in Aix-en-Provence! www.beauxarts.com/lifestyle/qu...

In the run-up to London Book Fair, a different view of Olympia 😯

Valentine's Day hugs and kisses from Monsieur Matisse ❤️ These postcards of his settings of love poems by Pierre de Ronsard decorated my student room and led me to write MATISSE:THE BOOKS, 35 years later 😍

Lots of acknowledgements of the value of support & community among translators, & expressions of thanks to the @societyofauthors.bsky.social from the winners of tonight's translation awards, streaming live from the @britishlibrary.bsky.social So true! ❤️🌍🌎🌏📚🍾👏👏🥂 www.thebookseller.com/news/soa-ann...

"Attention is a form of respect for people and places"... Fine words read by the co-winner of the 60th Scott Moncrieff Prize for translation from French, online tonight from the @britishlibrary.bsky.social. Translation is of course the closest firm of attention www.thebookseller.com/news/the-soc...

Some very important messages from the winners of tonight's @societyofauthors.bsky.social translation prizes so far. #freespeech #resistance Watch them on the Society's Youtube channel! www.thebookseller.com/news/the-soc...

Breaking my dry February (I have a birthday in January) to enjoy a glass of wine with the online 2024 @societyofauthors.bsky.social #TranslationsAssociation prizes for work published (mostly) in 2023 :) 👏👏👏🍾🥂 ❤️🌍🌎🌏📚

#amtranslating a v cool guide to Capri: colourful characters, outrageous villas (or vice versa), topless taxis w. sunshade roofs, towering cliffs, sparkling sea. And memories of a trip there w our boys, c.20 yrs ago. Perfect antedote to a freezing, drizzly afternoon www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SJe...

@ceatl.bsky.social signed the Paris 2025 AI Call for providers to: - respect IP rights & seek & respect the express wishes of rightsholders - show transparency on copyrighted work fed into AI - seek licenses - pay for use of copyrighted work. I'm furious @ukgovernment.bsky.social didn't sign

Government should NEVER be run like a corporation. A corporation is a wealth-concentration engine. It funnels wealth from many to few. Government is its polar opposite, distributing resources in a way that benefits everyone. Running government like a business just makes for bad government.

What an extremely strange entrance for the Head of State - it looks chaotic, no 'Hail to the Chief'? No one seems to want to have anything to do with him, Ivanka completely ignored ... Odd for the winner of such an impressive majority...

So yeah, it was all about the messaging #kendricklamar #superbowl. Almost 100 years ago, Matisse's livres d'artiste responded to the rise of fascism, and the horrors of Nazism, Occupation and the Vichy régime, in just the same way. #resistance Find out more here: thamesandhudson.com/matisse-the-...

I need basically everything explained about Kendrick Lamar's Superbowl show but the thought of Trump having to sit through it, with Samuel L. Jackson as Uncle Sam, is enough for now 🇺🇸

First day gardening! Pruned the dog rose & another rose by the gate, pulled dead rushes fr the pond, dead-headed the agapanthus, cleared the massively overgrown waxy spoon-leaved, pink-flowery stuff at the bottom of a wall (no idea what it's called). Uncovered snowdrops! Feel I've had a workout...

Hurrah! 700 followers on here as of today. A fair number of blocked sex-bots, I fear, but I'll persevere...

A heist in Pennsylvania has left authorities shell-shocked: 100,000 organic eggs were stolen from a facility in Greencastle, just north of the Maryland border. The egg heist, worth approximately $40,000, comes at a time of record-high wholesale egg prices in the country and reports of shortages.

Sprinkling stardust of joy in the darkest of times. We live on a very small planet in a vast universe, yet we create problems that seem bigger than the universe itself. Discover your fresh perspective and spread joy with one another. Gurdeep.org

🤣 My boys would see how quickly they could get Social Services to appear and carry off the children...

Or as the master himself put it:

So the author questionnaire for my new Matisse anthology asks: "Are there topics currently in the news that might tie in with your book?" And I reply: "Matisse’s words reflect his experience of life in WW2... under a hated political régime that he sets out to resist and undermine in his work" ✊

Added bonus o In Fontainebleau forest yesterday, some rather lovely French alexandrines honouring the two 'sylvains' (men of the woods) who created the amazing network of trails through the massifs of breathtaking boulders.

Glorious sunlit hike in Fontainebleau forest this weekend! #montaigu

you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/sa... Yet more capital/development nonsense, ruining central London life. Please sign!