Get your short stories ready for @galleybeggars.bsky.social Short Story Prize 2026/27! Deadline 8th Nov, with a 1st prize of £3k! I'm really thrilled to be one of the judges this year, alongside Timna Fibert and Gonzalo C Garcia (and there are 200 free entries for low earners if you're quick!)✒️📚

@Galleybeggars@galleybeggars.bsky.social · 2w ago

The Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize 2026-2027 is now open for submissions: www.galleybeggar.co.uk/prize

Such a lovely evening at the @dhhlitagency.bsky.social 18th birthday party.

This will be fabulous, and @taniahershman.bsky.social the perfect tutor, too!

Tania Hershman 🏳️‍🌈@taniahershman.bsky.social · last mo.

Very much looking forward to running this online masterclass for @arvonfoundation.bsky.social on July 7 for academics in any field who want permission to spread their writing wings in new directions. Come play with word-shapes & find new ways to use your research! www.arvon.org/writing-cour...

I'm delighted to say that I will on a panel about generative AI in the creative sector with the amazing Barbora Gáborová and Heather Parry, chaired by @seanluskauthor.bsky.social

Nairn Books@nairnbooks.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Tickets are live for Nairn Book & Arts Festival! Books by just some(!) of the authors pictured www.ticketsource.com/nairn-book-a...

I loved reading this advance proof of @vickymackenzie.bsky.social new novel #eachleafeachcurveofstem coming January 2027 from @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social An intimate, touching and ingenious portrait of Victorian polymath #johnruskin

‘Every bit as gripping as the classic, yet has added immediacy and emotion. Hugely moving.’ #Catherine: A Retelling of #WutheringHeights by @essiefox.bsky.social is OUT NOW🥹🕯️ GET YOUR COPY NOW⬇️ Hardback: 🔗https://geni.us/hdV1 Ebook: 🔗https://geni.us/79FJv #TeamOrenda @seanluskauthor.bsky.social

Hurrah! 🥳 The 1st episode of Sherry's Shorts 2026 is out! Featuring a fabulous *new* story from Saltire winner @seanluskauthor.bsky.social, PLUS acclaimed Highland writer @helensedgwick.bsky.social, Ian Tallach & me. Catch us live at 12 noon UK time today on HHR.Scot. @highlandhradio.bsky.social

If you'd like to dig down into 8 cracking short stories and discuss them with a lovely bunch of fellow short story fans, then I have the online reading/writing course for you! Starting Tues 13th Jan till 10th March (exc 10th Feb) 1830-2030 GMT, all welcome! Fee £250, incs feedback on your own story.

Vicky MacKenzie@vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Short story writers! I am running my 8-week online course again in 2026: 'What can a short story do?', exploring the possibilities of this wonderful form. We'll read 8 contemporary short stories and use them as a launchpad for our own writing. More details ⬇️

Listen in tomorrow evening (7.15 Weds 3rd Dec) when I’ll be talking to Kirsty Wark about 18th century genius #marywortleymontagu the subject of my #saltirebookaward winning novel #awomanofopinion

Thank you to generous contributors, including @tracyborman.bsky.social, @kateagriffin.bsky.social, @michaeljecksauthor.bsky.social, @vaseemkhanuk.bsky.social, @chrislloydauthor.bsky.social, @seanluskauthor.bsky.social, @lindsaypowell.bsky.social, @1642author.bsky.social and @anniehistory.bsky.social

If you're looking to order a copy of the latest winner of 𝗦𝗰𝗼𝘁𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱'𝘀 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 - @seanluskauthor.bsky.social's A Woman Of Opinion - why not try a local bookshop, instead of putting money in the pocket of an American billionaire? Here's a good one: nairnbooks.com

Nairn Books | Explore Our Collection

Discover a diverse selection of books and gifts at Nairn's beloved independent bookshop. Visit in-store or order online via uk.bookshop.org for local insights and recommendations.

nairnbooks.com

Oh wow. Congratulations @seanluskauthor.bsky.social Well deserved!!!!

Nairn Books@nairnbooks.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Huge congratulations to Sean Lusk for winning the fiction prize at the Saltire Awards last night for his excellent A Woman of Opinion! #SaltireBookAwards #SeanLusk #AWomanOfOpinion #booksellerreccs #bookrecommendations #booksbooksbooks #booksky

Huge congratulations to @seanluskauthor.bsky.social who has won Fiction Book of the Year at Scotland’s National Book Awards with the wonderful A WOMAN OF OPINION!🏆🎉

What better place to spend your Saturday than in a bookshop? If you're an #IndieBookshop why not tell us something about yourself, any upcoming events, where you're based, what your speciality is if any, show us around! #SaturdayInABookshop #BookSky 📚💙 #Bookshop #BrowseABookshop alt text please

We are thrilled that A WOMAN OF OPINION has been shortlisted for the Saltire Book Awards 2025! A huge congratulations @seanluskauthor.bsky.social! 🎉

The programme for this year's Bookmark Blairgowrie book festival. A really excellent, high quality book festival in the heart of Perthshire. This year feat. @seanluskauthor.bsky.social @linanderson.bsky.social @billykayscot.bsky.social @florajowriter.bsky.social and many others. Well worth a visit.

After raising £4k for fuel poverty charities from the print anthology, the FUEL flash ebook—with 12 bonus flash stories—is on its way! That’s 87 brilliant, surprising prizewinning flash stories by writers worldwide, exploding the myth that there's a formula for a “winning” story. www.fuelflash.net

I adored this unputdownable novel from #lucysteeds #theartist Very unusual for me to be unable to tear myself away from a book, but this gripped me through sheer luminosity of language and story.

A mini book tour over the weekend took me to three wonderful bookshops - #beinnbooks at Dufftown, where I met the owners of this great new book and coffee shop, Sam and Kelly. Then to @waterstones St Andrews and the amazing Jack and to @waterstones du dee…all in the sunshine, of course!

As a philosophy major who adored symbolic logic courses, this may be my favorite cartoon ever.

Apply! You have until June 4th. Go on…go in

Tania Hershman 🏳️‍🌈@taniahershman.bsky.social · last yr.

Please pass this on to your writing networks and anyone you think might be interested - especially those who haven't been on an Arvon course and might think they *shouldn't* put themselves forward. Yes they should! #flashfiction #poetry #nonfiction #hybridwriting www.arvon.org/writing-cour...

Which will be utterly marvellous, because @vickymackenzie.bsky.social is!

Vicky MacKenzie@vickymackenzie.bsky.social · last yr.

I'm running an online Historical Fiction course for Moniack Mhor this September - 4 weeks of workshops, plus a one-to-one tutorial, from the comfort of your own home! ✒️📚🫖 www.moniackmhor.org.uk/courses/2569...

I've done a blog! Get me, all modern & stuff. Chatting about imaginary paintings, finding inspiration at 36,000 feet over the Atlantic, & Flower Power🌹🌸🌹 for my new collection This Is How I Fight, incoming 19th June with @ninearchespress.bsky.social ninearchespress.blogspot.com/2025/05/in-c...

In Conversation - Rosie Garland

On writing 'This is How I Fight' (and a bonus poem) Rosie Garland returns with a collection centred on connection, defiance, and shifting p...

ninearchespress.blogspot.com

Great to drop into @waterstones.bsky.social Inverness today to sign copies of #AWomanofOpinion #Marywortleymontagu would have been very pleased to have her own charming table! @doubledaybooks.bsky.social

Such a lovely event at #bookmarkblair yesterday with @vickymackenzie.bsky.social - the best sort of chat about historical fiction, with the best sort of audience. And a big shout out to #indiebookshop #adventureintobooks who made the lovely bookmark. Thank you!

Great BookmarkBlair event with authors @vickymackenzie.bsky.social and @seanluskauthor.bsky.social discussing their protagonists Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. And thanks to Chair Gail Wylie for giving a namecheck to "Miss Blaine's Prefect and the Uncharted Island."

To celebrate Sean Lusk's A Woman of Opinion being out in paperback, here's a feature he wrote for Historia: How Mary Wortley Montagu and other great 18th-century women were forgotten Read it at historiamag.com/how-mary-wor... Happy publication day, Sean! @seanluskauthor.bsky.social

What a book - grab it from your nearest gorgeous independent bookshop! I saw a copy yesterday in the wonderful @serenitybookshop.bsky.social in Stockport, if you're in that neighbourhood. Congrats, @seanluskauthor.bsky.social 🎉

Sean Lusk @seanluskauthor.bsky.social · last yr.

Out TODAY and in all good bookshops. Thank you to the brilliant @shonamaclean.bsky.social for the quote. #awomanofopinion #marywortleymontagu #paperback #historicalfiction @doubledayuk.bsky.social

Out TODAY and in all good bookshops. Thank you to the brilliant @shonamaclean.bsky.social for the quote. #awomanofopinion #marywortleymontagu #paperback #historicalfiction @doubledayuk.bsky.social