Tessera
Folgen

Catherine Spooner

@catherinespooner.bsky.social

Academic and creative writer | Professor of Literature and Culture, Lancaster University | all things Gothic | fashion | folk horror | she/her

147 Posts2034 Follower405 Folgt
Dale Townshend@dalegothic96.bsky.social · 3w ago

University departments that are doing away with research-led teaching and getting their academic staff to teach on broad, non-specialist modules instead are effectively deskilling their workforce.

Haunted Shores@hauntedshores.bsky.social · last mo.

New CFP! We're delighted to invite abstracts for the next Haunted Shores conference: Beyond the Blue Planet: Outer Space, Inner Space, and Extraterrestrial Oceans – online 2 April 2027 Please share with anyone who might be interested! Thank you! Full info: haunted-shores.com/beyond-the-b...

Beyond the Blue Planet: Haunted Shores 2027

Join us for the next Haunted Shores conference! Beyond the Blue Planet: Outer Space, Inner Space, and Extraterrestrial Oceans Online: 2 April 2027 (Double, a crater in the Moon’s Sea of Tranquility…

haunted-shores.com

Catherine Spooner @catherinespooner.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Obviously plagiarism is unacceptable and credible allegations should be investigated. But (a) since when has an academic integrity hearing been front-page headline news and (b) where were the tabloids when LLMs stole *hundreds of thousands* of academics’ and other writers’ work?

Dr Laura Eastlake@victorianmasc.bsky.social · 2mo ago

📚"Covers designed by folk who didn't bother to read the book" Episode 5: Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens. “Get in, loser. We’re going rowing on the Thames in a boat of dirty and disreputable appearance. Also on Wednesdays we wear arsenic green.” #c19th

Cover of Our Mutual Friend featuring two young women, at school judging by their backpack and casual dress, and wearing jewellery and low rise jeans of c. 2002
Dr Laura Eastlake@victorianmasc.bsky.social · 4mo ago

📚"Covers designed by folk who didn't bother to read the book" Episode 4: The Great Gatsby. “They say he killed a man, and bought that big-ass palace with the money he made from his Magic Mike themed speakeasy”

Mike Collins - Chair British Association for American Studies@baaschair.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Excited to offer a fully funded PhD with Maeve Ryan and I at KCL. Details below. www.kcl.ac.uk/study/fundin...

CRSW / AHRC Doctoral Studentship: Narratives of Enslavement and their Legacies | King's College London

King’s College London’s Leverhulme Centre for Research on Slavery in War (CRSW) is pleased to announce a fully funded AHRC doctoral studentship, jointly supervised by English and War Studies.

kcl.ac.uk

Catherine Spooner @catherinespooner.bsky.social · 3mo ago

“This is not just a crisis for higher education – it is a crisis for social mobility, young people’s careers, the skills our economy depends on and the opportunities available in communities across the UK” www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Humanities among degrees being ‘extinguished’ by hard-up universities

Exclusive: Experts fear rise in education ‘cold spots’ and social immobility as 4,000 academic posts lost in one year

theguardian.com

Catherine Spooner @catherinespooner.bsky.social · 3mo ago

So much here that’s relevant to writing and other creative professions too. ❤️ Sam Neill (click through for video of Sam talking acting and mental health).

Glen O'Hara@gsoh31.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Lot to think about here in terms of all those academics who've lost their jobs (or will in the next few years). What responsibility does the sector have for their health/ mental health support? For helping them into early retirement or another sector? Finding ppl a liferaft role at another provider?

Glen O'Hara@gsoh31.bsky.social · 3mo ago

A country that is determined to destroy its own economy, and to make everyone's lives greyer and grimmer into the bargain. Peanuts, with vast multipliers. Unbelievable. www.artsprofessional.co.uk/news/dfe-sla...

DfE slashes creative and performing arts teaching grants for universities - Arts Professional

Performing and creative arts university courses will no longer receive funding from a government teaching grant as part of "difficult decisions" about

artsprofessional.co.uk

Christine Ferguson@cferguson.bsky.social · 4mo ago

I had a blast doing this interview for The Mourning Paper, alongside @catherinespooner.bsky.social, about the origins and futures of Gothic as a subculture and a literary genre. Thanks to Shaun McLaren for these great questions! themourningpaper.co.uk/2026/06/15/f...

From Goths to Gothicism (and back to Goths): An Interview with Christine Ferguson and Catherine Spooner

An interview with professors, Christine Ferguson and Catherine Spooner on their experience of the goth subculture, goth academic spaces and more.

themourningpaper.co.uk

Catherine Spooner @catherinespooner.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Essential reading for anyone concerned about the current state of British universities. Completely nails the complex economics and political wrangling behind the situation and the cultural vandalism that results.

London Review of Books@lrb.co.uk · 5mo ago

‘Higher education cannot function like a genuine market, where consumers can try out one brand of soap powder this month and another next month.’ Stefan Collini on what went wrong in UK higher education. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Dr Jen Baker@jendeavour.bsky.social · 6mo ago

*Very* excited that vol.1 of New Directions in the Ghost Story, edited by myself, @henrybartholomew.bsky.social & @joanpassey.bsky.social is out! Well done to all the contributors, and thanks for bearing with us! :) Please recommend to your academic libraries! link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

New Directions in the Ghost Story, Volume I

Discover New Directions in the Ghost Story, Volume 1, a landmark collection of essays exploring haunted narratives and Gothic fiction.

link.springer.com

Catherine Spooner @catherinespooner.bsky.social · 6mo ago

I'm headed to Sheffield later this term to talk about one of my obsessions for the Ann Radcliffe, Then and Now project. Come and join me and talk women in white dresses and why we are all watching Gothic cinema now!

Ann Radcliffe, Then and Now@radcliffecup.bsky.social · 6mo ago

FREE public lecture: 'Women in White and the New Gothic Cinema: Reinventing the Gothic Heroine' by @catherinespooner.bsky.social ✨ followed by a screening of Guillermo del Toro's 'Crimson Peak' 🩸 When? 18th June 6pm Where? The Showroom Cinema, Sheffield Tickets? www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/women-in-w...