Does anyone have any reading recommendations for creative-critical practice in book history (both terms broadly conceived, as they can only be)? Very accepting of the 're-'s (remaking etc) but also interested in other approaches.

Special collections and special cats (Isambard) at Lady Margaret Hall.

#NCS2026 was epic! ✨ (As was my journey home- two taxis, a train, a coach, a bus & a plane!!). Now to decide where to put all my @hellomizk.bsky.social merch!! We’re very grateful that @guildmedmak.bsky.social had an official presence at the Congress & we look forward to 2028!

Picked flowers at the flower picking farm.

Today we typeset and printed a sonnet at the Bodleian Bibliographic Press. We were supposted to correct the setting after a first print, but the students became attached to their accidents so we printed lots of (perfectly) faulty ones.

Today I had the option of working on my own (disgusting, evil, bad) writing for an hour OR taking part in my students' early modern letterlocking seminar. Guess which one won out. All credit to letterlocking afficionado and session leader Dr Daniel Starza Smith (and his bespoke LMH seal stamp).

me after writing "to which I turn next"

Its week 2 of the 'Secret Lives of Books' summer school and we went to @ballioloxford.bsky.social 's Historic Collections Centre to see a fantastic selection of early modern books, thanks to Naomi Tiley. There were a pleasing quantity books about fish, and a page marker secured with a pin.

Have you tried putting headphones on and blasting Fleet Floxes' 'Helplessness Blues'? I've found that helps.

No summer school on book history would be complete without a pigment and illumination workshop from the outstanding @saracharles.bsky.social! The students absolutely LOVED it - look at their beautiful initials!

The crossover event of the summer! @robertculshaw.bsky.social had me join his ICU team day to give a workshop on 'Caring Intensively in Medieval English Writings', featuring the charm against a wen, a recipe for curing constipation, and Margery Kempe.

🚨General registration is now open for the Gender & Medieval Studies conference on Gender & Creativity in Oxford in Sept! We have an amazing line up of speakers, so please register asap to avoid disappointment! (Numbers are limited!). Link via GMS website medievalgender.co.uk/2026-oxford/

Are you heading to @newchaucersociety.bsky.social Biennial Conference in Freiburg next week? Check out (and sign up to) the creative-critical sessions that the Guild has organised and make sure to visit artist in residence @hellomizk.bsky.social! 👇

GuMM at the NCS Biennial Congress 2026 — The Guild of Medievalist Makers

The upcoming  New Chaucer Society Biennial Congress takes place at the University of Freiburg in Germany from July 27th through to the 31st. Early in the organization process for the Congress, t...

guildmedmak.com

Today was the first day of the 3-week summer school I'm convening at LMH: 'The Secret Lives of Books: Parchment, Printing Presses, and Paperbacks'. What better way to start our medieval book history week than a lecture from @drdavidrundle.bsky.social, and Merton mss with @juliawalworth.bsky.social

Cash poor, preserves rich (all made by my mum).

The plant 'rosebay willowherb' has too many other plants names in it. It should have to pick two, maximum.

This session is fantastic - it is extremely fun, no pressure, and makes you think through 'distilling' a text in different ways. Come for critical underpinnings, stay for zero-judgement creative play, leave with medieval creative-critical excitement.

Kristen Haas Curtis@hellomizk.bsky.social · 3w ago

Heading to the @newchaucersociety.bsky.social Congress in Freiburg in a couple weeks? Come make adaptation comics with @drlauravarnam.bsky.social and me! ZERO drawing skill required. The link is available in the most recent email from the NCS organizing committee.

Thanks to the urbane people at @thetls.bsky.social for this nice piece about INSCRIPTION 6 (on cuts and tears), including the great Buzz Spector ripping up pages.

I picked some wild cherry plums; bats overhead. Born to be a Redwall mouse, sadly I am trapped in the body of a human woman.

I have just received my copy of Issue 6 of @inscriptionjournal.bsky.social - surely the most material of all texts, look at these glorious THINGS! This issue contains my article on J. L. Carr's (yes, the 'Month in the Country' author, also publisher & artist) pocketbook of 'The Reeves Tale'.

I went to Dorset and spied with my little eyes: holloways, ammonite fossils, excellent beach-side fish and chips, Little Toller books, Dorset apple cake and clotted cream for breakfast, a swannery, compass jellyfish, icecream, farm cats, and @robertculshaw.bsky.social.

General registration will be live via the GMS website from Mon 20th July!

Dr Laura Varnam@drlauravarnam.bsky.social · last mo.

The provisional schedule is now up the Gender & Medieval Studies conference in Oxford this Sept! (And I'm hoping that registration will be live by the end of the month! Let me know if you'd like to be on the mailing list for details). medievalgender.co.uk/2026-oxford/

Demon balls! I'm so excited to be involved in a project organised by @hellomizk.bsky.social, pairing medievalists with artists to produce brand new #comics. I'm working with the amazing Dan Berry, on the story of #Guthlac. Dan just sent me this - inspired by a demon in the #medieval Guthlac Roll 1/2

Come and talk trade non-fiction with the inimitable @cathamclarke.bsky.social, the sparkling @saracharles.bsky.social, and the intrepid Anthony Bale (and me) this evening at #IMC !

Catherine Clarke@cathamclarke.bsky.social · 4w ago

This evening @imc-leeds.bsky.social! Maurice Keyworth L.09, 7pm. Come and say hello and ask us your questions!

I’ll be with the totally brilliant @cathamclarke.bsky.social, @eleanormaybaker.bsky.social and Anthony Bale tonight, talking about writing medieval history for a general audience @imc-leeds.bsky.social #imc2026

Catherine Clarke@cathamclarke.bsky.social · 4w ago

This evening @imc-leeds.bsky.social! Maurice Keyworth L.09, 7pm. Come and say hello and ask us your questions!

'A coding repository feels like a palimpsestic space [...] like the marginalia found in our favourite manuscripts' Our latest Meet a Medievalist Maker post is by Victoria Craggs, the senior designer and developer who created the New Chaucer Society Biennial Congress 2026 posters!👇

Meet a Medievalist Maker: Victoria Craggs — The Guild of Medievalist Makers

“ Meet a Medievalist Maker ” is an ongoing series of blog posts introducing our members and the work they are doing. Each post is organized around our Four P’s: a project they are working on...

guildmedmak.com

Counting down the days to #IMC2026, especially our panel on M. R. James and Old English! First, Emily Dixon will give a fascinating paper on reading Old English Soul & Body poems through ‘The Mezzotint’, then I’ll talk about James’ work on the Jamnes and Mambres fragment in Cotton MS Tiberius B.v.

I had not posted about it but as I am now earnestly grappling with it: I am writing another book for @bodleian.ox.ac.uk Bodleian Publishing, 'Tales of Horror from Medieval England'. Expect translated narratives of violence, sorcery, fearsome creatures, the undead, and the end times.

❗It's here! The Call For Papers for MAMO 2027❗ - Seeking a broad range of proposals for papers and events, focusing on aspects of medievalism in the modern world. - Featuring some very special events and keynotes... - You can find a plaintext version of this CFP at shorturl.at/0FJjY.

This afternoon @hellomizk.bsky.social and @drlauravarnam.bsky.social ran their fantastic workshop on haiku and modular comics, and their use for thinking through medieval literature 🖍 If you missed out, Laura and Kristen will be reprising this session in person for NCS 2026 in a few weeks time!