A question for those involved in PhD literature admissions: I'm gathering resources for MA students considering PhDs. It's been a while, y'all! Any advice/insights/tips that you'd be happy for me to pass on to students? (I'll paraphrase but also happy to share attributed quotes.)

Are you teaching Dickens this semester? Check out our new teaching resources at Dickens Notes, and consider incorporating the working notes and serial publication into your course!

Dickens Notes@dickensnotes.bsky.social · 2mo ago

We're excited to share a revamped teaching section--check out new resources for incorporating Dickens Notes into the classroom, including assignments and activities by @nikkihessell.bsky.social, @annagk.bsky.social, @adamgrener.bsky.social, and others! dickensnotes.org/usage/teaching

What a pleasure it was to chat with the incomparable @nathankhensley.bsky.social about Action Without Hope!

Victorian Review @victorianreview.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Click the link to read our first ever Book Talk! Book Talks include an hour of conversation between an author of a new book in Victorian studies with an interlocutor of their choice. Read the conversation between Nathan K. Hensley and Anna Gibson now! muse.jhu.edu/issue/57090

Come hear Dickens Notes co-director Anna Gibson talk about Charles Dickens's working notes at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London on July 2! This is part of the V&A's free Lunchtime Lecture series.

Lunchtime Lectures: Story Weaving: Charles Dickens's Working Notes - V&A Academy Talk at V&A South Kensington · V&A

This event is part of the free Lunchtime Lecture series. No booking is required.

vam.ac.uk

A slide of imperative verbs (addressed to himself? Or to the narrative?) gleaned from Dickens’s memoranda and notes as part of www.dickensnotes.com project and a session with the manuscripts themselves in the V&A National Art Library. Thanks to Anna Gibson and Adam Grener for a great workshop!

Teaching with Dickens’s working notes or about his compositional process? Consider submitting materials to the Dickens Notes Project!

NAVSA@navsa.bsky.social · last yr.

CFP: Teaching Dickens’s Compositional Process & Serial Form (Submission Deadline: 1/31/26) bit.ly/3HLOtmX

teachers! excited to share a new website at this late date of Aug 15 to try to help us collectively prepare for back to school in the interpretative humanities classroom assaulted by the AI grift, so we don't have to go it alone. take a look, share, + most importantly: CONTRIBUTE against-a-i.com

AGAINST AI

against-a-i.com

Thwarted in my evening reading. @nathankhensley.bsky.social, my cat is a fan 😁😻

I don’t think we really need EEG to tell us that outsourcing thinking to AI decreases learning in writing tasks, but I suppose we can hope that studies like this *might* check the institutional bandwagoning. arxiv.org/pdf/2506.088...

These kind of ChatGPT performances are like having conversations with a sociopath. It lies so confidently—such a symptom of our current times, except with these odd extended apologies.

Diabolus Ex Machina

This Is Not An Essay

open.substack.com

Last night I had the pleasure of hearing @annagk.bsky.social talk to our Dickens postgraduates about www.dickensnotes.com - a fantastic open access resource showing Dickens's working notes for his novels. Highly recommended!

Digital Dickens Notes Project

The Digital Dickens Notes Project is an exploration of Charles Dickens's Working Notes

dickensnotes.com

Devastating

Cultural groups across U.S. told that federal humanities grants are terminated

Among the thousands of groups affected by the sudden cessation of funds are state arts councils, museums, historic sites, archives, libraries, educators and media outlets in all 50 states.

npr.org

"Al Gurad did not understand why his visa was terminated and the State Department had not provided a reason for the decision."

Two NC State students leave U.S. after visas terminated

Two NC State graduate students left the U.S. after the State Department revoked their visas. The University was not notified beforehand but offered support.

technicianonline.com

Devastating. For those of us waiting for the result of grant applications, and for those who have active or awarded grants, this is just awful. But the impact of this move will be pervasive and long-lasting.

National Humanities Alliance@humanitiesall.bsky.social · 2y ago

On Monday, March 31, 2025 we learned that DOGE is targeting the NEH with the aim of substantially reducing its staff, cutting the agency’s grant programs, and rescinding grants that have already been awarded. Learn what steps you can take here: nhalliance.org/federal-fund...

ACH has confirmed reports that DOGE is at the NEH. Chair Shelly C. Lowe has been replaced by Acting Chair Michael McDonald. ACH remains committed to a diverse, inclusive, and supportive DH. To engage in advocacy efforts: secretary@ach.org. Read our statement of support for NEH: buff.ly/bQeRaGw

Scientists and journalists need to figure out right quick how to explain to the average person how a massive change in research indirects will impact the medical care they and their children get (eg at the local children’s hospital), the education their children will get, the price of tuition, etc.

This is a very helpful thread re: the slashing of overhead rates on NIH grants. It is an atrocity and, as OP states, an attempt to decimate higher ed. This guidance goes into effect immediately, affecting not only future but also current grants, which is to say current university budgets.

Carl T. Bergstrom@carlbergstrom.com · 2y ago

1. Today the NIH director issued a new directive slashing overhead rates to 15%. I want to provide some context on what that means and why it matters. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

Everything is bleak. But my Brit Lit survey students are writing about why The History of Mary Prince matters in 2025, and they are giving me hope.

For me the scariest thing about week 1 (and the transition) has been precisely this phenomenon of “anticipatory obedience”; institutions are showing us the thinness of their commitment to values they previously claimed to hold

Best "Neo-Victorian" novels to teach: go! I'm teaching a grad class ("Re-Forming Victorian Lit") next semester. I want to end with a 21st-C novel that's explicitly taking up/engaging with Victorian forms. Ideally not centered solely on white British characters. Course description in thread.

Yay @emmadavenport.bsky.social ! Can’t wait to read this!

Victorian Poetry@victorianpoetry.bsky.social · 2y ago

Delighted to announce that @emmadavenport.bsky.social is the inaugural winner of Victorian Poetry’s early career prize! Watch for her brilliant essay, “Crediting Women’s Poetic Labor: _Paradise Lost_ and Toru Dutt’s ‘Our Casuarina Tree’.” Read more abt it below or in the alt-text. Congrats, Emma! ✨

It’s busy in here! This list o’ lists is super helpful for finding your people in the midst of this academic social media migration.

Greg Jenner (Historian)@gregjenner.bsky.social · 2y ago

Looking for people to follow? Here’s a directory of 4,500 starter packs which you can search by keyword! blueskydirectory.com/starter-pack...

* Digital Dickens Notes Project, an online critical edition of the working notes Charles Dickens used during serial composition of his novels, directed by @annagk.bsky.social and @adamgrener.bsky.social, and reviewed by Beverly Park Rilett #ReviewsInDH reviewsindh.pubpub.org/pub/digital-...

Review: Digital Dickens Notes Project

A review of Digital Dickens Notes Project, an online critical edition of the working notes Charles Dickens used during serial composition of his novels, directed by Anna Gibson and Adam Grener

reviewsindh.pubpub.org

Grateful to the Digital Scholarship and Publishing Studio at the University of Iowa for the opportunity to share the dickensnotes.com project @annagk.bsky.social and I direct--excited to connect with the DH community here over the next few days!

Digital Dickens Notes Project

The Digital Dickens Notes Project is an exploration of Charles Dickens's Working Notes

dickensnotes.com

Planning a Serials & Storylines seminar next semester. What are the most narratively intriguing serial tv shows you've watched recently? Which shows have you taught (esp. paired with 19thC texts) that worked well?

@adamgrener.bsky.social & I are excited to share the latest version of the Digital Dickens Notes Project. Check out our transcriptions, annotations, and introductions to Dickens's Working Notes @ www.dickensnotes.com. There's heaps of new material for Little Dorrit & Hard Times.

Digital Dickens Notes Project

The Digital Dickens Notes Project is an exploration of Charles Dickens's Working Notes

dickensnotes.com

Why Majoring in the Humanities Can Be A Great Career Move | U.S. News www.usnews.com/education/ar...