Our 18th Annual Conference is now over, and some of you may be staving off the post-VPFA conference depression. Not to worry, because we have JUST the cure: Volume 8, issue 1 of Victorian Popular Fictions Journal 🤩💫 Read it online here: victorianpopularfiction.org/publications...

Victorian Popular Fictions volume 8 issue 1 (Spring 2026)

Table of Contents ArticlesJulia Kuehn and Diane Eveline van den Brink. The Good, the Bad, and the Popular: The Question of a Popular Canon and Other Methodological ContemplationsLinda K. Hughes. Cr…

victorianpopularfiction.org

A *fantastic* time at #VPFAPublics the last few days. Fascinating papers, fruitful discussions (Some fun things on the horizon)... Caught up with old pals, made some new ones - every year I'm blown away by the incredible warmth of @vpfa.bsky.social. All the thanks to Jo and Janine for organising!

Great time at #VPFAPublics this week. And amazing to hear from @ebutler-way.bsky.social, @ccapancioni.bsky.social , & @helenaesser.bsky.social that papers at next year's conference in Aberystwyth will exclusively take place in bathing machines & on funicular railways, as unlikely as that sounds.

Absolutely loved being part of this panel! Always fun talking about Victorian and neo-Victorian corsets, bodies, and so on...!

Dr Joanna Turner@coppertapestry.bsky.social · 4w ago

Bodies - WHAT A PANEL at #vpfapublics It was absolutely brilliant! I loved hearing from Megan Nash, Anna-Maria Grill, and @ebutler-way.bsky.social about their fascinating research! @vpfa.bsky.social

Delightful that as we gear up for #VPFAPublics, the new issue of VPFJ is out, featuring yours truly in some great company! Have I been wanting to write this since my MA? Quite possibly. Alcott, sensation, Genette, Goethe ... What more could you want? doi.org/10.46911/YER... @vpfa.bsky.social

Victorian Popular Fictions 8.1 3 Butler-Way

“The omen never fails”: Appropriating Intertexts in Louisa May Alcott’s A Long Fatal Love ChaseEmma Butler-WayDownload PDF hereAbstractNot seeing publication until 130 years after it was written, L…

doi.org

Get to know our Web Manager, Emma Butler-Way ✨ @ebutler-way.bsky.social Here are her answers to our 5 questions: www.linkedin.com/feed/update/... Read her blog post about joining VPFA here: victorianpopularfiction.org/in-which-emm...

A new regular feature on the VPFA blog: 'On This Day in the Pages of the Victorians'. Emma Butler-Way considers dates in fiction, and periodicals. An entry from everyone's favourite heroine, Marian Halcombe might feature in this post 👀

Emma Butler-Way@ebutler-way.bsky.social · 2mo ago

New on the @vpfa.bsky.social Blog in 'Fun Facts and Bizarre Books': On This Day in the Pages of the Victorians: 19th June. Was this post born out of procrastination? I couldn't possibly comment. But it was a fantastic way to while away an afternoon... victorianpopularfiction.org/on-this-day-...

New on the @vpfa.bsky.social Blog in 'Fun Facts and Bizarre Books': On This Day in the Pages of the Victorians: 19th June. Was this post born out of procrastination? I couldn't possibly comment. But it was a fantastic way to while away an afternoon... victorianpopularfiction.org/on-this-day-...

On This Day in the Pages of the Victorians: 19th June

A selection by Emma Butler-WayEven though the years pass, the seasons change, and society goes through its various developments, one thing that doesn’t really change is the way in which we mark the…

victorianpopularfiction.org

VPFJ is seeking to expand its pool of expert reviewers. Send an email to VPFJournal@gmail.com with subject "VPFJ Reviewer Database" including: - A short CV (or link to institutional profile) and ORCID. - Preferred email address for contact. - Up to 10 research keywords - Any recent publications

The day may come when I watch the extended editions over the long Easter weekend without crying in every single one and being a blubbering mess by the end of Return of the King, but it is not this day! (But seriously. What a way to spend the long weekend.)

Fab day @ the VPFA Sensation Fiction & the Health Humanities study day yesterday. As ever, wonderful to catch up with everyone, make new connections, & be immersed in so much interesting research. Thank you @braddonite.bsky.social for putting together such a great day & programme! @vpfa.bsky.social

Happy 3-year anniversary to my first ever publication: 'The Neo-Victorian Corset'. It has a very special place in my heart and marked the start of the next stage in my career, even if I remain slightly sad I couldn't come up with a zestier title... doi.org/10.3366/vic....

The Neo-Victorian Corset: Two Narrative Approaches to the Constricting Garment in Sarah Waters’s Fingersmith (2002) and Laura Purcell’s The Corset (2018) | Victoriographies

This article will examine how Sarah Waters and Laura Purcell use the corset as a narrative tool in Fingersmith (2002) and The Corset (2018), and how placing these texts alongside Victorian writing on ...

doi.org

In a new article, Toni Beardmore from our Department of Geography and Earth Sciences discusses how ‘Banter’ about where you’re from or how you speak is harder to define than racism or sexism, but it is damaging. 🖱️ tinyurl.com/5n7p4dr8 #SocialJustice

Mocking people for their class is discrimination – so why don’t we treat it as such?

‘Banter’ about where you’re from or how you speak is harder to define than racism or sexism, but it is damaging.

tinyurl.com

I went to a VPFA 'Turning your thesis into a monograph' workshop in 2022. After completing my PhD, I thought I'd maybe mine my thesis for a couple of articles and leave it at that. I left the workshop motivated, re-inspired, and my monograph is now in production 👀 So: sign up! @vpfa.bsky.social

Victorian Popular Fiction Association@vpfa.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Join the VPFA for a workshop on publishing Victorian Popular Fiction! ✅ Turning your thesis into a monograph. ✅ Writing a winning book proposal. ✅ Insights from the VPFJ editorial committee. ✅ Handling peer review & rejection 📅 26th February at 6pm 🔗 See your emails for the registration link!

Join the VPFA for a workshop on publishing Victorian Popular Fiction! ✅ Turning your thesis into a monograph. ✅ Writing a winning book proposal. ✅ Insights from the VPFJ editorial committee. ✅ Handling peer review & rejection 📅 26th February at 6pm 🔗 See your emails for the registration link!

My top 10 fiction reads of the year, with 3 NF honourable mentions. At least 2 made me cry, & I was able to help launch another 2 here in Aber. Hear me out re: Rivals. Bonkbuster is may be, but it's also a biting social commentary with a fascinatingly observational narrative voice. I was a big fan.

Christopher Columbus! I've written a new blog post for @vpfa.bsky.social, this time on the Christmassiness of Little Women adaptations... It was much harder than anticipated. I changed the ranking many times. I began to question everything. I still am... victorianpopularfiction.org/christmas-wo...

Christmas Won’t Be Christmas without ‘Little Women’…

A subjective ranking of Christmassiness by Emma Butler-WayIn my years of teaching Little Women in adaptation, the one question I have never asked either myself or my students is: ‘And what about ho…

victorianpopularfiction.org

Ghosted is in Bloomsbury's Christmas sale and the hardback is currently £14 until 7th December. It even includes a recipe for ectoplasm you can shoot from your nose - a reliable way to get out of any complicated post-Christmas-dinner board game. www.bloomsbury.com/uk/ghosted-9...

Ghosted

A social, historical and scientific exploration of ghost-hunting, and why our fascination with the paranormal is as timeless as the ghosts we hope to find.The h…

bloomsbury.com

Please give Emma's wonderful blog post about Guillermo del Torro's Frankenstein a read. Let us know your thoughts, did you enjoy the film? What did you like and dislike? Even if it deviated from the book, did it, as Emma says, still keep its 'soul'?

Emma Butler-Way@ebutler-way.bsky.social · 9mo ago

I had some thoughts (and many emotions) about the new Frankenstein film, so wrote this review for the VPFA Blog @vpfa.bsky.social Philomena Cunk memes: a major part of the review, or a side thought? You'll have to read it to find out... victorianpopularfiction.org/frankenstein...

I had some thoughts (and many emotions) about the new Frankenstein film, so wrote this review for the VPFA Blog @vpfa.bsky.social Philomena Cunk memes: a major part of the review, or a side thought? You'll have to read it to find out... victorianpopularfiction.org/frankenstein...

Frankenstein (2025); or, the Adaptation Shelley Deserves

A review by Emma Butler-WayEvery interview that I saw snippets of suggested to me that Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein was going to be quite something; this was a director and a cast who cl…

victorianpopularfiction.org

I never expected Project Gutenberg to be the deliverer of such a thrill. Lord Byron would be *fuming*...

Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein is amazing. What a spectacular film, and adaptation. A work of art. Costumes: amazing. Visuals: stunning. Heart and soul of the book? Firmly in place. My emotions? All over the place. So many tears. Exquisite stuff, cannot recommend highly enough.

a woman wearing a green scarf around her head

ALT: a woman wearing a green scarf around her head

media.tenor.com

A pleasure & a privilege to have helped my good friend @mariellisdunning.bsky.social launch her debut novel WITSH last week in the Drwm @librarywales.bsky.social, mere hours after Aber was announced as Wales's first UNESCO City of Literature! Missed out? ⬇️ youtu.be/Xa8P98gUQoQ?...

Witsh: In Conversation with Mari Ellis Dunning

YouTube video by Llyfrgell Genedlaethol - National Library of Wales

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Really looking forward to this evening's launch at @librarywales.bsky.social 📚✨ Tickets have flown & while I'm a tad nervous to be addressing The Drwm after attending so many events there, I can't wait to chat about Welsh witshes, spells, superstition, religion & misogyny. tinyurl.com/37ddc4fn

ticketsource.co.uk

📖 A haunting novel inspired by the largely unknown history of Welsh witchcraft has been published by one of our lecturers. 🖱️ tinyurl.com/3nhm5fyc @mariellisdunning.bsky.social #novel #history #wales #witchcraft

👻 Writing in The Conversation, Dr Alice Vernon from the Department of English & Creative Writing discusses how our hunt for ghosts reveals more about the living than the dead. 🖱 tinyurl.com/yhrk9av7 @alicevernon10.bsky.social #ghosts #ghosthunting #supernatural

Why we keep hunting ghosts – and what it says about us

From Victorian séances to TikTok, our hunt for ghosts reveals more about the living than the dead.

tinyurl.com

This was a super encouraging read - I am *so* excited about this adaptation!

The Conversation UK@uk.theconversation.com · 10mo ago

Guillermo del Toro’s retelling of the story about a scientist trying to create life is a visual treat and a rousing adaptation.

Kemi Badenoch wants to end ‘rip-off degrees’ – but I wouldn’t have created Horrid Henry without mine | Francesca Simon

Kemi Badenoch wants to end ‘rip-off degrees’ – but I wouldn’t have created Horrid Henry without mine | Francesca Simon

I studied Old and Middle English. Although I didn’t know it, I couldn’t have chosen a better subject to train me to become a children’s author, says author Francesca Simon

theguardian.com

I'm very much looking forward to my busy Halloween night this year. First up, chatting to @mariellisdunning.bsky.social at the National Library of Wales about her haunting debut novel, WITSH, set in C16th Wales during the Welsh witch trials... www.ticketsource.co.uk/llgcnlw/evt-...

I'm doing a book launch for Ghosted at Waterstones Aberystwyth on Halloween night at 7pm. It's going to be a spooky evening! Info and tickets: www.waterstones.com/events/alice...

Alice Vernon launches Ghosted | Events at Waterstones Bookshops | Waterstones

Events at Waterstones get you closer to the books and authors you admire most. Find information and tickets about Alice Vernon launches Ghosted today.

waterstones.com