The 1899 first edition of "The Wind Among the Reeds" by W. B. Yeats, along with its gilt cover design by Althea Gyles.

deer at Wollaton Park taking a creative approach to this heat 🥹

Attenborough nature reserve ❤️

magnificent work by Felicity James, which quite literally gets to the heart and lifeblood of the point of writing off the heels of #Bars2026, proves again that Romanticists are bringing brilliant new commentary to the issue of gen ai in the arts & humanities www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....

hello again Nottingham ❤️

some #bars2026 highlights, as promised. Overall, an incredible conference. In general, everyone was so kind & generous with their time & conversation. Despite a precarious job market, ECR work was the highest standard I've witnessed, & there was a deep, comforting community spirit amongst us.

Four baselines for academic conference attendance: 1) keep to your allocated speaking time. 2) everyone is clever; stand out by being warm & kind. 3) be interested in everyone equally - from postgrad to Prof to conference administrator to catering & hotel staff. 4) in Q&A, ask an actual question.

I've just found out that the legendary diarist, cultural icon, & French-American modernist Anaïs Nin has two major scholarly studies out in the next year! The first is a CUP in Context edition: www.cambridge.org/gb/universit...

Anaïs Nin in Context | Cambridge University Press & Assessment

cambridge.org

A beautiful, inspiring and thought-provoking couple of days at my first *big* BARS. Brum was a very welcoming city, with some beautiful architecture. And, as always, I'm in awe of having such incredibly clever friends and meeting such amazing people in the field. I loved #bars2026 so much ✨️

not a bad spot to wait for the train back

I really need to get used to having a book out because I'm still not emotionally prepared for someone buying my book from the conference & then approaching me afterwards to sign it. Thank you kind stranger who is no longer a stranger! #BARS2026

Birmingham, I'll see you at the pub tonight after a nap... #BARS2026

in other news, I'm delighted to have been sent the galley of S. Yarberry's latest poetry collection! Their Blake scholarship forever changed mine, so I'm looking forward to these (inspired by Blake) 💫

Romanticists & Birmingham people: I'm at @bars.bsky.social conference this week, come & say hi! I'm presenting my Glasgow archival research into J. P. Nichol, David Scott, and Romantic period astronomical illustration 💫

Intro card to Nolan's Odyssey: "In an age of apparent magic" Intro card to the ideal medieval Welsh/Irish adaptation: "Look, this is going to get really weird, deal with it"

Myriah Williams@myriahwilliams.bsky.social · 4w ago

Medieval Welsh literature is still right there, waiting… Want to see King Arthur’s court populated with guys who wear their lip as a hood or who roll around instead of walking? How about Cai riding a giant ancient salmon? Arthur in climactic battle with an old woman? cc @rhyskamjones.bsky.social

In their spirit photography in the 1920s and '30s, the Scottish-born brothers Craig and George Falconer specialised in ectoplasm. The results are rather artistic. #PhantomsFriday

BARS Conference 2026 - Final Registration: Next week, the University of Birmingham hosts the British Association for Romantic Studies international conference. The conference theme, Romantic Retrospection, has led to a diverse range of papers, sessions, and roundtables (1/6)

Don't worry if you missed @jodielmarley.bsky.social's fascinating talk on William Blake's mysticism. You can now watch it here blakesociety.org/product/blak...

William Blake’s Mysticism – a talk by Dr Jodie Marley - The Blake Society

Dr Jodie Marley explores Blake's reputation as a mystic during and after his lifetime.

blakesociety.org

The Blake Society@blakesociety.bsky.social · last mo.

William Blake’s Mysticism - Wed 15 July, 7:30 PM. This Wednesday Dr Jodie Marley @jodielmarley.bsky.social joins us on zoom to explore Blake's reputation as a mystic during and after his lifetime. More info and FREE registration at blakesociety.org/product/blak...

FOR REAL THERE ARE SO MANY I did a queer history lecture at my church and there were literally too many transmasc monk saints to fit in the PowerPoint with the time we had

Abby@arobertswrites.com · last mo.

Niche post but if you want to write a story about a queer person in Europe c. 500-1000 CE your best bet is researching transmasc monks because there are surprisingly a lot of them.

In 1647, a self-taught astronomer from Gdańsk changed the way we saw the Moon by creating the first detailed map of the lunar surface. View Johannes Hevelius’s 'Selenographia, sive Lunae descriptio' on Digital Bodleian. https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/42bf0c0e-7814-41ba-8c5b-c9ee4aa5fcb5/

my lecture for @blakesociety.bsky.social, 'William Blake's Mysticism', is now available to watch on YouTube 💫 ft. granular analysis of what "mysticism" is, close readings of Blake alongside Dorothy Gott & Fiona Macleod, & how this all intersects with existing studies youtu.be/fr5c2iZPHvA?...

William Blake's Mysticism

YouTube video by Blake Society

youtu.be

No matter how cringey you find occult stuff, asking a tarot deck a question will always be more dignified than asking ChatGPT

huge thanks to everyone who came to my Blake lecture, & thanks to @blakesociety.bsky.social for having me! will share the YouTube recording when it's uploaded 💫🙏🏻

Quick reminder that my free online talk, Blake's Mysticism, for the Blake Society is this Weds! Registration & details below ⬇️

The Blake Society@blakesociety.bsky.social · last mo.

William Blake’s Mysticism - Wed 15 July, 7:30 PM. This Wednesday Dr Jodie Marley @jodielmarley.bsky.social joins us on zoom to explore Blake's reputation as a mystic during and after his lifetime. More info and FREE registration at blakesociety.org/product/blak...

My session on Frankenstein for the @bradfordlitfest.bsky.social Gothic education day went well, with another bunch of students who asked some great questions! And, inspired by @drbeard79.bsky.social 's brilliant Mary Shelley talk on Monday night, Matilda is my book of choice for the journey home!

We shouldn't start caring only, and suddenly, when it's an 'elite' research-intensive university. Like climate change we needed to start caring a long time ago and there's no better time to start than now.

I am very glad to see how widely covered the insanity at Exeter is, but please I beg everyone, understand this is happening EVERYWHERE in UK universities. If people care about anything valuable that this sector does or contributes too, they need to get loud, now.

George Monbiot@georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Something deeply troubling & shocking is happening at Exeter University*, where a mass cull of staff is planned, even though it's in surplus. No good justifications given. @jamesgdyke.info provides the details: www.technosphere.earth/the-bonfire-... *Disclosure: I have a Visiting Fellowship here. +🧵

My redundancy is not potential, it is not a threat, it is currently certain. As it was two years ago, and 3 years before that. And absolutely cuts to the sector are terrible, but there are hundreds of us in this situation, watching other threats of redundancies being widely decried. Just not ours.

(2/) Some potential redundancies are apparently deserving of petitions and widespread horror on social media, and yet some certain redundancies are not at all - and yes, it's also, as colleagues have noted, clear that this applies to different institutions differently, but also apparently FTC staff

I think this quote really demonstrates for me something that is quite weird and hard about watching reactions to sector redundancies while precarious - because I am expected to do exactly this next year. And no one seems to find it a problem. (1/2)

Andy Brockman@andybrockman.bsky.social · 2mo ago

"The idea that people will be able to hold it together and deliver a term of teaching before they vanish off into the horizon, is bizarre, spiteful and naive as well.” The Times HE's punchy account of Exeter University's #BonfireOfTheHumanities & what one academic describes as "existential terror".