David Farrier
@david-farrier.bsky.social
Writer. Footprints: In Search of Future Fossils | Nature's Genius: Evolution's Lessons for a Changing Planet, shortlisted: Wainwright Conservation Writing Prize & Saltire Nonfiction Prize 2025 Professor of Literature & the Environment, Uni of Edinburgh
same consultants, same awful playbook at our uni :(
Dorothy Bishop@deevybee.bsky.social · 2w agoThis is a very disturbing read by Philip Moriarty about the corporate consultants at University of Nottingham, whose "bloodless prime-LLM-grade corporate boilerplate" called Future Nottingham 2 is guiding decision-making - cuts, cuts and more cuts. muircheartblog.wpcomstaging.com/2026/10/07/j...
“I think it’s a shame that students are the only bargaining chip they really have. But I understand it. I would obviously rather it didn’t happen but I do get it." (Final year Geography student, University of Edinburgh, displaying a good understanding of how institutional systems work)
Edinburgh joins UK universities heading for strikes as cuts spread through entire sector
Students at Edinburgh, Dundee and Nottingham face a term without any teaching as sector struggles with rising financial uncertainty
theguardian.com
Universities are particularly ill-suited to dealing with sexual assault cases for a number of reasons.
Awful. Capital overrides communities once again. Frome's bid for a community-led housing & regeneration project at Saxonvale lies in tatters: the council's agreed a deal with a London-based real estate company instead. Similar story in Totnes with Atmos project www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
‘Devastating’: council rejects Frome residents’ bid for regeneration project
Locals raised £1m for Mayday Saxonvale scheme involving homes and park but Somerset officials agreed deal with London-based real estate company
theguardian.com
'New analysis on UK media: British media is not delivering the news to its readers. They are delivering an agenda. The seven days after Channel 4 filmed James Orr are a damning indictment of the British press. Orr is a Cambridge associate professor.' via @newscord.org
I'm so excited that this is nearly out in the word! I had the privilege of joining the amazing Karine Polwart for a walk along the Lothian coast to explore James Hutton's remarkable legacy for BBC Radio 4. Listen in this Sunday (7.15pm) or on iplayer!
All the quiet parts spoken aloud in radio 4's eulogy for Rod Liddle 🙃
Behind the bewildering transformation of British universities, are management consultants being paid millions Really proud to have this vital piece on our unis are being gutted from the inside by @jheathershaw.bsky.social on Democracy for Sale. Do read democracyforsale.substack.com/p/inside-bri...
Inside Britain's university crisis
As teaching staff face job loss, their bosses have netted pay rises and bought advice from a “vampiric” management consultancy, writes Prof. John Heathershaw of the University of Exeter
democracyforsale.substack.com
Rum and the Cuillins from the Point of Sleat, Skye, glorious in the sunshine yesterday.
It's been a while, but for those who might be interested I've written an *actual piece of literary criticism* (on poetry, AI, and AI poetry). 'Closed Rooms and Oracles: the poetics of vector space in Sam Riviere’s Conflicted Copy' is free to read here: poetry.openlibhums.org/article/id/2...
Closed Rooms and Oracles: the poetics of vector space in Sam Riviere’s Conflicted Copy
Published one hundred years after Tristan Tzara’s instruction that poets should “copy conscientiously”, Sam Riviere’s Conflicted Copy (2024), created in collaboration with GPT-2, invites us to reconsi...
poetry.openlibhums.org
A Noh interpretation of my 'On Rona'. Japanese tradition meets the outermost Hebrides. This is what the Edinburgh festivals are for! Thank you EIBF.
Severin Carrell@severincarrell.bsky.social · 4mo ago“Books don’t have to be medicine,” says book fest chief Jenny Niven, as music, theatre and food take centre stage - @edbookfest.bsky.social 2026 👇🏾📚🎭 www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...
Tickets for my event with fellow University of Edinburgh prof @david-farrier.bsky.social on evolution. Sunday June 14, 17:45 Please come! They've scheduled us opposite Nicola Sturgeon! bordersbookfestival.citizenticket.com/events/borde...
Steve Brusatte & David Farrier: Evolution, Adaptation and the Living World - Buy tickets
Two brilliant science writers explore how life evolves over time. Palaeontologist Steve Brusatte reveals birds as living dinosaurs, while David Farrier examines nature's adaptation today.
bordersbookfestival.citizenticket.com
It was such a pleasure to talk to @racheldonald.bsky.social for the Planet Critical podcast!
Rachel Donald@racheldonald.bsky.social · 5mo agoWhat is the role of art in any crisis? To understand what is, and to imagine what could be. This is the message of @david-farrier.bsky.social, professor in literature and the author of 'Nature's Genius: Evolutions Lessons for a Changing Planet'. Full Episode: www.planetcritical.com/david-farrier/
I'm losing 100% of my pay this month, and for the foreseeable future, because of management's punitive response to the marking and assessment boycott launched by @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social to try and stop compulsory redundancies. www.ucu.org.uk/article/1448...
Sir Tom Devine: "Edinburgh’s plight is mainly due to inept decisions taken by the current Principal and his senior management group" Scatching words from one of Scotland's preeminent historians on Edinbugh Uni's financial woes. @heraldscotland.bsky.social www.heraldscotland.com/news/2611944...
Scottish historian delivers scathing verdict on 'inept' Edinburgh University bosses
Sir Thomas Devine said that “gross failures” by Sir Peter Mathieson and his senior team have left the institution in a perilous state.
heraldscotland.com
Happy Earth Day! To celebrate, we’ve curated a selection of shop favourites to kickstart your reading. Tonight we’re also hosting David Farrier and Louise Gray for a discussion about Farrier’s latest, Nature’s Genius! You can browse our picks here: www.theportobellobookshop.com/news/earth-d...
Earth Day Recommendations
Take a look at earth day recommendations, from our Top picks news collection
theportobellobookshop.com
Reposting this for the weekend crowd: I wrote about Basil Bunting's poem Briggflatts and what it has to teach us about the value of deep listening.
Lit Hub@literaryhub.bsky.social · 6mo ago@david-farrier.bsky.social revisits “Briggflatts,” Basil Bunting’s presicent poem warning us all of the loss of the world’s precious soundscapes.
Footprints: In Search of Future Fossils, David Farrier Rec from @markdway.bsky.social, deep time told in reverse, how our civilization might be recorded by the planet. Each chapter covers a geologic archive, paired w a reflection through literature (like ice cores/Borges Library of Babel). 20/
Echoing @kellyhereid.bsky.social's recommendation here, @david-farrier.bsky.social Footprints is an excellent read! Also on the subject of long timescales amidst our daily chaos, I tremendously enjoyed Marcia Bjornerud's Timefulness: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb... @princetonupress.bsky.social
Kelly Hereid@kellyhereid.bsky.social · 7mo agoFootprints: In Search of Future Fossils, David Farrier Rec from @markdway.bsky.social, deep time told in reverse, how our civilization might be recorded by the planet. Each chapter covers a geologic archive, paired w a reflection through literature (like ice cores/Borges Library of Babel). 20/
@david-farrier.bsky.social revisits “Briggflatts,” Basil Bunting’s presicent poem warning us all of the loss of the world’s precious soundscapes.
On the 1966 Poem That Warns of Bio-Acoustic Die-Off and the Destruction of Our Soundscapes
The poet Basil Bunting was as old as the century when he died in 1985. His life was bookended by the relief of Ladysmith and Thatcher’s defeat of striking miners. He was imprisoned in Wormwoo…
buff.ly
To mark the paperback launch of NATURE'S GENIUS I wrote about how poetry can help us pay attention to an increasingly silent world. lithub.com/on-the-1966-...
On the 1966 Poem That Warns of Bio-Acoustic Die-Off and the Destruction of Our Soundscapes
The poet Basil Bunting was as old as the century when he died in 1985. His life was bookended by the relief of Ladysmith and Thatcher’s defeat of striking miners. He was imprisoned in Wormwoo…
lithub.com
NATURE'S GENIUS is out in paperback TODAY! Join me to find out how the living world can be our mentor for change on Earth Day, 22nd April, @portybooks.bsky.social tinyurl.com/mpwnphbh @canongate.co.uk
Come to the paperback launch of NATURE'S GENIUS on World Earth Day! @portybooks.bsky.social Tickets: tinyurl.com/mpwnphbh
